Gutob language

The Gutob language belongs to the South Munda subgroup of the Munda branch of the Austroasiatic language family. It is most closely related to the Bondo language. ==Distribution==

Gutob is spoken across southern Odisha and adjacent districts of northern Andhra Pradesh, and is concentrated primarily in Lamptaput block, Koraput district, southern Odisha. In recent centuries, Gutob speakers have also migrated to the plains of Andhra Pradesh as well as Rayagada District, including near the town Majiguda (close to Kalyansinghpur) where they live alongside the Dravidian-speaking Kondhs. Ethnologue reports the following locations. • 40 villages of Lamptaput block, Koraput district, southern Odisha • Khoirput block, Malkangiri district, southern Odisha • Visakhapatnam district, northern Andhra Pradesh ==Dialects==

Although there are some speculation, Griffiths (2008) states "at least two dialects of Gutob exist": Koraput Gutob and Andhra Gutob. The author assumes that the former is the standard variety. The degree of mutual intelligibility of the two dialect is unknown, though differences in phonology and lexicons were reported by Subba Rao (1992) and Bhaskara Rao (1969), and the Andhra dialect has been strongly influenced by Telugu. ==Language status==

The Gutob language is considered to be either endangered or moribund, due in part to several hydroelectric projects that have displaced Gutob people from their traditional villages and forced them to live as minorities in primarily Desiya-speaking villages. Anderson (2008) estimates the number of speakers at around 10 to 15,000, while the Asha Kiran society, which works in Koraput, estimates the number at less than 5,000. Virtually there are no Gutob monolinguals. The 2011 census most likely counts Gutob and Ollari as the same language, since they are both called Gadaba by outsiders. Although Gutob-language education has been attempted, it has faced stiff resistance and most parents still want their children to learn Desiya only due to being in mixed villages. ==Phonology==

Consonant • /p/ can be fricativized in initial position to near that of [ɸ] and [f]. • In intervocalic position, labial phonemes may be realized as [b]; /ɖ/ as [ɽ], velars as [g] and optionally Ø. • Intervocalic /ŋ/ is dropped in an utterance if the following phoneme is a vowel with concomitant nasalization. • The status of /h/ is marginal, as it is limited to a few native and loan words. • /n/ ~ [l] variants occur in some words. • In two roots pig "break in half" and log "to fall", the voiced velar final alters to /ks/ before a front-vowel suffix. Eg. /piks-oʔ/ "broke in half", /ob-loks-oˀ/ "caused to fall". Vowels Initial /u/ cannot form diphthongs since it would be phonetically realized as a glide [w], thus it is more appropriate to recognize them as nonsyllabic approximants /w, j/. Prosody According to Voß, L-H word pattern is found across all Gutob words. Stress usually falls on the second syllable of Gutob disyllables and on the final syllable of other words. This pattern is already well-exhibited in the ethnonyms of the Gutob people: Dravidian-Desia [ˈgādabā] vs Gutob [guˈtɔb], Dravidianized Ollari [ˈtugoːlu] vs Gutob [tuˈgɔl] ('yesterday'). However, in trisyllabic verbal forms, the patterns may be unpredictable. ==Morphology==

Nominal morphology Number Gutob distinguishes two numbers: singular (-Ø) and plural (-nen). The plural is not obligatorily marked. Person Kinship terms in Gutob are marked for inalienable possession by third possessives -ɖei/ɖoi. Cases Case marking in Gutob is not an overt component in the nominal morphology. According to Griffiths, there are three postpositions (suffixes) that always attach to pronouns and NPs to show cases: the unmarked subjective, the genitive/attributive/possessive -nu, and objective/oblique -pulai on nominals and pronouns, and o- on pronouns. In some cases, if the indirect object and the direct object in the same clause are both animate, the former will be marked. Pronouns Interrogatives Gutob employs a series of interrogative forms that can function as relative pronouns. Maŋ ("what") can sometimes be used as both a substantive and an adjective. Demonstratives Gutob has a three-way demonstrative system. Adpositions Numerals and classifiers Gutob used to have a decimal counting system. Nowadays most of it has been supplemented by numerals borrowed from Desia, Oriya, and Telugu. Counting numbers larger than 20 adopts a vigesimal strategy from Indo-Aryan. Gutob has a small set of classifiers. The majority of them were borrowed from Desia. Adjectives Adjectives do not exist as a separate part of speech in Gutob. Lexical roots can serve as the head of the attributive function via appropriate predicative inflection and are then placed before the element that needs to be modified. Derivation Gutob employs the nominalizing suffix -kaŋ to derive nominals from nominals and other parts of speech. There are several other (compositional and idiosyncratic) nominalizing derivation methods involving infixes and prefixes, though none of them appear to be productive at the current stage. • Nominalizing infix -n- or prefix an- are commonly found in derived nouns. Eg. ab "to husk" → an-ab "husk" (n.); baj "to decorate" → b-un-aj "writing, arithmetic, embroidery"; peɖ "to blow" → p-in-eɖ "flute"; sar "to comb" → s-un-ar "comb" (n.); siɖ "to bird-lime" → s-in-iɖ "bird-lime, gum"; zuŋ "to suspend" → z-un-uŋ "clothesline". • An animal marking prefix gV- usually occurs in conjunction with faunal nomenclature. Although the unprefix roots can appear in various semantically linked compounds, they never manifest as free-standing forms. Eg. gibir "pig"; gikil "tiger"; giliʔ "rabbit"; gimeʔ "goat", gisi "lice", gisiŋ 'chicken', gubon "bear"; gugaʔ "crow"; guladʒ "bull, ox"; gusaʔ "monkey", gusoʔ "dog". • An unknown prefix sV- This prefix is often found in some lexical words with unclear meaning and function. Eg. silen (only in silen-daʔ "sweat"); simon "day time, day"; sukug "gourd"; sulob "tree"; siledʒ "long"; sisang "bone"; suŋmol "seed/pit"; suram "antelope"; sumoŋ "in front of"; silim ?; subul "sweet"; suloŋ "far away"; sulodz "stomach"; susuŋ "leg". Predicative morphology Gutob lacks strong distinction between lexical categories, as roots may exhibit categorical underspecification. For example, a Gutob word that was derived from the Odia noun mahajana ("important man") can be expressed as the head of a predicate with compositional semantic result: A general characteristic of the Munda languages is weak lexical distinction, noted by Pinnow (1966). Lexical function mainly depends on syntactic configuration, allowing any lexeme to be used for either the predicative role and its complements free of will, although observations stated that this phenomenon is not as robust in South Munda as in North Munda. Pronominal markers Like Kherwarian languages (such as Santali), Kharia, and Remo, person indexation (subject) in Gutob verb (TAM/person-syntagma) is achieved solely through enclitics. The first and second person clitics are basically the same as pronouns. The placement of subject enclitics in Gutob predicates is extremely variable, unlike fixed positions in Kharia, Remo, and Kherwarian. They can unpredictively attach to any preverbal elements, including locatives, temporals, adverbials, object NPs, interrogatives, adjectives, and demonstratives, displaying no clear preference for a host. It seems that the subject markers in Gutob are not explicitly parts of the verbal system. A study by Just & Voß (2023) found that subject enclitics are highly sensitive to discourse; they are often placed wherever the topic is the most prominent. These atypical characteristics sets Gutob person indexation system apart from the normal clines of Munda indexation. In complex predicates with the presence of an auxiliary verb, the person markers are repeated not only for the lexical verb but also for the auxiliary. However the AVC double marking pattern in Gutob may have considerable variation regarding the placement of the subject enclitics due to pragmatic discourse-oriented factors. Tense-mood-aspect-aktionsart The auxiliary verb ɖuk presents an irregular paradigm in non-negated formation. This auxiliary behaves like the English copula verb "to be". It is often used to cover aspectual, negative, attributive, and possessive constructions, as well as cases where a lexeme is not used directly as the head of a predicate. For instance: Borrowed marker =ni is used to encode the progressive: Incorporation Gutob, like Remo, has fossilized and unproductive lexical noun incorporation with the head predicative lexical base always placed in the initial position, then followed by nominals (mostly body parts). Negation Negation is the most complex aspect of Gutob morphosyntax, a feature also shared by its relative languages, Gorum and Juang. The following is a brief outline of the Gutob negative system. • In the negative paradigm, TAM morphemes often function in ways opposite to their values in the affirmative paradigm, despite being formally identical. This asymmetry in Gutob negation creates an opaque system in which many negative forms do not map compositionally to their positive equivalents, contributing to late acquisition in children and difficulty for second-language learners. • There are two main negative prefixes ar- ("not") for finite predicates, and mor- ("not yet") for subordinating clauses, and it seems that mor- has a fuller thematic load than the former. • Two additional negative copulae uraʔ ("not") and oroj ("not yet") play substitutive roles in aspectual and habitual negative constructions. Uraʔ can take TAM, person index, and behave like a predicate, eg. uraʔ-gu ("was not"). • The negative active nonpast form is ar-X=Ø, and the negative middle nonpast is ar-X=a. In affirmative constructions, these markers would express the imperative mood. The negative past form is ar-X=to regardless of whether it is in the active or the middle, monovalent or polyvalent predicate. • The prohibitive negation in active voice form is ar-X=oʔ, while the middle form is ar-X=gi/gu. It would be equivalent to the English prohibitive sentence “Do not X!” • The negative optative form is ar-X=e, functionally and semantically the same as the affirmative optative, and corresponds to constructions like "may not X". • For the negative habitual, the predicate structure employs a negative copulae in the postverbal position. Eg. gonɖaʔ=nen uraʔ (urinate=PL NEG.COP "(they) do not urinate…"). • The negative infinitival present form involves masdar and the auxiliary copula. Eg. se-ser uraʔ (RDPL-sing NEG.COP "doesn’t sing"). This formation can also be interpreted as a negative perfective if the negative copula oroj is used instead. Eg. tu-tur oroj (RDPL-come NEG.COP "not come yet"). • The negative present progressive requires the masdar of the lexical head and an inflected form of the auxiliary verb ɖuk. Its structure is RDPL-X ar-ɖu=oʔ/gi/gu. Eg. se-ser ar-ɖu-gu (RDPL-sing NEG-be=NEG.NPST "don’t be singing"). The same structural pattern applies to the negative past perfect, but unusually, it combines with the affirmative habitual, thus its structure is RDPL-X ar-ɖu=to. Several aspectual negative formations, including the past progressive and future progressive, use the negative copulas instead of the negative prefixes. Complex predicates Gutob has developed a rich system of auxiliary verb (v2) construction predication. There are two types of AVCs: - General converb + auxiliary • The general converb structure consists of a lexical head that carries main semantics, and may have a converb suffix -na to mark infinitive. • an auxiliary verb complements or enriches grammatical information to the semantic base, such as motion, aktionsart, mode, etc. The auxiliary head is obliged to mark inflectional categories for the predicate, while the lexical head may or may not. Some of the auxiliary verbs are listed in the table below: - Infinitive ("to X") + goŋ/ɖem. Goŋ functions like the English auxiliary "can" while ɖem literally means "to become". ==Syntax==

Simple sentence structure Argument marking in Gutob is typical of dependent-marking, nominative-accusative languages. The accusative head argument of the simple clause is overtly marked. The general word order in Gutob is SOV. However, topic can flip to the first position of the clause, which leads to OSV order due to certain conditions of focus, emphasis, etc: Gutob NP is head-final with all modifiers and demonstratives put before the syntactic head. The simplified NP has the following structure: There is evidence pertaining to a different NP structure in an earlier stage of this language. Complex sentence structure Particles mĩõʔ ("again"), ɖoŋ ("and"), and the suffixing element -sa ("and") are used as coordinatives in clausal structures. Disjunctive formation is expressed by the word ki "or". Complement clauses are indicated by a quotative word ɖieʔ (derived from ɖi "to speak") or its variant extensions ɖ(i)eʔna or ɖieʔsu. Verbs of speech are frequently repeated around the complement clause to denote a quoting action. Relative linkage comprises two types: the native Gutob use of the GEN/ATTR marker, or by employing borrowed pronouns or native calques: Anderson & Boyle (2002) state that Gutob -su and -na are switch-reference markers, which -su marks for the same subject, and -na denotes a different subject. Although there is a tendency for the two markers to occur with switch reference, Griffiths (2008) notes that both forms also frequently occur in subordinative clauses without serving the function of tracking reference between clauses. He therefore readjusts the interpretation of -su and -na as conjunctive and conditional converb markers for subordinative clauses, respectively. Example of -su without same subject: Example of -na without different subject: ==Semantics and discourse==

In Gutob, there is a basic set of three color terms that are commonly used are Desia loan words: dob 'white' (Gutob pileʔ), roŋ 'red' (Gutob equivalent unknown), kala 'black' (Gutob iɖel). Narrative and discourse frequently employ words like ɖiʔto, oʔ, laka, aka, be, and ta. The word ɖiʔto, presumably derived from "it is said," although its precise function is relatively unclear, is commonly used to mark a quotation in Gutob narrative. Consider the following example: The particle oʔ functions as the general emphasis; laka as the measurement emphasis; aka as the emphasis for the preceding word. Particle be is used to mark in polite discourse (analyzed by Voß (2015) as a verbal clitic). The discourse particle ta is sometimes also used to highlight discourse focus as well. ==Vocabulary==

The Gutob lexicon is characterized by extensive borrowing from neighboring socially prestigious Indo-Aryan Desia. Through Desia, Gutob has incorporated a vast corpus of Indo-Aryan loanwords, and speakers often prefer using Indo-Aryan words over the Austroasiatic ones. Within the Koraput region, bilingualism is now ubiquitous among tribals, under which Gutob is no longer considered the first language of the tribe. Observations from the 1960s show that inside the speech community, code-switching between Gutob and Desia was already extremely common, illustrated by the following sentences recorded from a Gutob conversation (The emboldened words are Desia): Norman Zide (1985) commented on Gutob: ==Sample text==

The following text was from a story narrated by a Gutob man, recorded in 2016 in Jalahanzar, Koraput district, Odisha. Link to the video is provided in the #External links section. ==References==