Language Contact and Documentation: Contacto Linguistico y Documentacion

154 Mutua Mehinaku & Bruna Franchetto
The younger generation are already accustomed to hearing and using the
expression ‘new technologies,’ though these were already familiar before the
advent of computers, as shown by the following common words, none of them
recent additions:
(5) [ahaɟu] ahaju ‘rádio’ radio
[latena] latena ‘lanterna’ torch
[mɔto] moto ‘motor’ motor/motorbike
[ahiɟão] ahijão ‘avião’ airplane
[bisi] bisi ‘bicicleta’ bicycle
[lãʃa] lancha ‘lancha’ launch (motorboat)
The so-called ‘new technologies’ have been a portal for the entry of various
loan words, today regularly used by younger people:
(6) [tɛleɸisãu] telehisãu ‘televisão’ televisión
[paɾabɔlikʌ] parabolika ‘parabólica’ satellite dish
[kaahatɔ] kagahato ‘gravador’ recorder
[ĩtɛhɛnɛʃi] itehenetxi ‘internet’ internet
[kõputadɔ] komputadó ‘computador’ computer
Other loan words came to denote other new objects present in the everyday
life of the village:
(7) [isikɔhʌ] isikoha ‘escova’ brush
[pautsi] pautsi ‘balde’ bucket
[saɔ] sao ‘sal’ salt
[pisikɔitu] pisikoitu ‘biscoito’ biscuit
[kaamɛlu] kagamelu ‘caramelo’ toffee
As we have seen above, most of these loan words have been and are appropriated
by Kuikuro grammar. They can be the argument of postpositions (-na,
allative; -te, locative):
(8) aldeia-na ‘para a aldeia’ to the village
(9) sidadi-te ‘na cidade’ in the city
These nouns can also be ‘possessed.’ Illustrated below are some of the paradigms
involved, where each radical receives, as well as the personal prefix and