Oct 18, 2008

Second - Writing system

The Mapuche Nation has been long split into two countries that actually implement very different policies towards its native peoples[5].
Mapuzugun is a minority language submersed in a vast Spanish-speaking area. In recent years, Mapuche words have been used to name restaurants, supermarkets, shops in general, neglecting the language structures and meanings. This extensive use also disregards the Mapuche's own vision on their language and culture.
Of the 3 writing known systems I will introduce the ones mostly used on each side of the Andes: the Unified Mapuche Alphabet and the Raguileo Graphemic Writing System. Both systems have had different success in gaining the mapuche's support for representing their own spoken language.

The Unified Alphabet (or "Alfabeto Unificado" in Spanish) is mostly accepted in academic circles and certain communities in Gulumapu. It is the result of the "Meeting for the Unification of the Mapuche Alphabet" that took place in Temuco, Chile, in 1986 and was organized by the "Sociedad Chilena de Lingüística" (Chilean Society of Linguistics).

The other is the "Grafemario Raguileo" (Raguileo Graphemic Writing System) or Raguileo Alphabet (Grapheme: a grapheme is the fundamental unit in written languages) that seems to be the most accepted system among the communities and other organizations that seek cultural and political autonomy within both countries at each side of the Andes (and specially in Puelmapu)
The main characteristics of the Raguileo Alphabet is that it assigns only one Phoneme to each Grapheme which facilitates the reading of this polysynthetic language.

I will not include the Azümchefe Alphabet because it is widely rejected by the Mapuche people (mainly sponsored by the Chilean government) and I lack the necessary references and knowledge to compare them.

The list below presents the two writing systems in 3 columns:
AU: Unified Alphabet
GR: Raguileo Alphabet
The 3rd column described the Phoneme listed in the other 2 columns adding its corresponding IPA symbol.

AU....GR...Phoneme that it represents
A........A.......low central unrounded vowel /a/ (some references[3] assign a front position)
CH.....C........voiceless palato-alveolar affricate consonant /tʃ/
E........E........mid front unrounded vowel /e/
F........F........voiceless labiodental fricative consonant /f/
G.......Q........allophone for the phoneme /ɯ/ corresponding to the voiced velar fricative consonant /ɣ/ or velar approximant consonant /ɰ/
I.........I........close front unrounded vowel /i/
K........K.......voiceless velar plosive consonant /k/
L........L........voiced alveolar lateral consonant /l/
L........B........voiced interdental lateral consonant /ļ/
LL......J........voiced palatal lateral consonant /ʎ/
M......M........voiced bilabial nasal consonant /m/
N.......N........voiced alveolar nasal consonant /n/
N.......H........voiced interdental nasal consonant /ņ/
Ñ........Ñ.......voiced palatal nasal consonant /ɲ/
NG.....G........voiced velar nasal consonant /ŋ/
O........O........close-mid back rounded vowel /o/
P.........P........voiceless bilabial plosive consonant /p/
R........R........voiced fricative retroflex consonant /ɹ/
S........S........voiceless fricative palatal consonant /ʃ/
This grapheme also represents the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. Tulio Cañumil supports the idea that this sound was not in Mapuzugun and might have been introduced from the Runa Simi (Southern Quechua language) or from Spanish. In Puelmapu some regions lack this sound at all (Mapuzugun as spoken in the Chubut Province) according to Prof. Cañumil.
T........T........voiceless alveolar plosive consonant /t/
This grapheme also presents the allophone pronounced as an interdental /t/
TR.....X........voiceless fricative alveolar retroflex consonant /tɹ/
U........U........high back rounded vowel /u/
Ü........V........high back unrounded vowel /ɯ/* when stressed. When unstressed, it is a mid central unrounded vowel /ə/.
* Some bibliography describes this as high central unrounded vowel /ɨ/, e.g. as "e" in roses /'ɹoʊzɨz/[4]
W.......W........allophone for /u/ corresponding to the voiced fricative rounded velar /w/
Y........Y.........allophone for /i/ corresponding to voiced fricative alveo-palatal /j/
D........Z.........voiceless fricative interdental consonant /θ/
In some regions "Z" is replaced by its allophone /ð/ (voiced dental fricative consonant)[2]

This comparative table was taken from reference [1] but corrected accoding to reference [2] at the footnote. Mostly, only API symbols were corrected. I also introduced the notes on regional variations.
The advantages for the Raguileo Alphabet go beyond its acceptance by the Mapuche people. (Anselmo Raguileo (1922-1992) was himself a mapuche poet and linguist):
Some communities take his work as a genuine response to their aspiration for political autonomy and the need to emphasize the independence of the language.
I believe that the Raguileo Alphabet adapts to Mapuzugun better: uses only one grapheme for each phoneme (no digraphs) avoiding misinterpretations in this polysynthetic language, although it uses some letters in a non-standard way from a Spanish perspective.
The major objection against this writing system is that it is more difficult to acquire by Spanish speakers, which to my understanding, stresses Mapuzugun as an independent language: one should decide for a writing system that better adapts to the language needs regardless it is more or less alike Spanish.
I will use the Raguileo Graphemic Writing System for future entries.

I translated this entry and will translate future entries from Spanish and Mapuzugun. Please email me your comments and suggestions!

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[1] Uso de la lengua mapuche por la sociedad no mapuche en Patagonia, publicado en Libro de Actas - Encuentro de Lenguas Indígenas Americanas. Santa Rosa: Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, Subsecretaría de Cultura del Gobierno de La Pampa & Agencia de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica.
[2] Descripción de la lengua Mapuche - Mapucezugun Ñi Cumgeel, Tulio F. Cañumil, Agrupación Mapuche Wixaleyiñ, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Puelmapu.
http://www.cui.edu.ar
[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapudungun_phonology
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapudungun_phonology
[5] I used the construction: "native people" although the preferred designation for the native peoples in Argentina is: "pueblos originarios", i.e. "originary" peoples. The term "originary" means that these peoples were here before the arrival of Europeans.

1 comment:

Brian Barker said...

Mapuzugun is not alone in fighting for its linguistic rights,

I believe that the promulgation of English as the world's "lingua franca" is impractical and linguistically undemocratic. I say this as a native English speaker.

Impractical because communication should be for all and not only for an educational or political elite. That is the position of English at the moment.

Undemocratic because minority languages are under attack worldwide due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages. Even Mandarin Chinese is attempting to dominate as well. The long-term solution must be found and a non-national language, which places all ethnic languages on an equal footing is essential.

An interesting video can be seen at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_YHALnLV9XU
A glimpse of Esperanto can be seen at http://www.lernu.net