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Language name Madi
Language name Macushi
Autonym (if known and different) m�
Autonym (if known and different)
THE LINGUISTICS STUDENT’S HANDBOOK 298
Language family Nilo-Saharan Central Sudanic
Language family Cariban
Spoken in Uganda, Sudan
Spoken in Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela
Approximate number of speakers 250k
Approximate number of speakers 10k
Writing system Roman
Writing system Roman
Phonetics/phonology
Phonetics/phonology
Stress none
Stress phrase-final
Contains following rare implosive; prenasalised fricative
consonant (types)
Contains following rare
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 9
Said to have how many vowels? 6�length
Marked vowel types
Marked vowel types
Tone register
Tone none
Rhythm no information
Rhythm no information
Vowel harmony ATR
Vowel harmony none
Morphology isolating and word-based
agglutinative
Morphology agglutinative word-based in
nouns, stem-based
in verbs
Particular formation types prefix; full reduplication; suffix; tone used morphologically
Syntax
Word order (SOV) SVO NA postpositions
PossN
Particular formation types prefix; suffix
Syntax
Particular syntactic phenomena inclusive / exclusive 1st plural
Word order OVS and SOV NA (see ‘points postpositions
of interest’)
PossN
Points of interest suffixes do not combine
Sources Blackings & Fabb (2003), Katzner (1977)
Particular syntactic phenomena absolutive / ergative marking; inclusive / exclusive
1st plural; morphological aspect; conjugation classes;
alienable / inalienable possession; collective as well as
plural; noun classes
Points of interest no adjectives, but modifiers (usually nouns) follow
the nouns they modify
Sources Abbott (1991), Haspelmath et al. (2005)