jonü

Ye'kwana

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [hʷonɨ]

Etymology 1

Hall analyzes the final -nü as a fossilized derivational suffix.

Noun

jonü (obligatorily possessed; possessed jonü)

1. (in relation to a man) sister’s son, sororal nephew
2. (in relation to a woman) brother’s son, fraternal nephew
3. female parallel cousin’s son
   1. father’s brother’s daughter’s son
   2. mother’s sister’s daughter’s son
4. male cross-cousin’s son
   1. father’s sister’s son’s son
   2. mother’s brother’s son’s son
5. great-grandson
6. sibling’s great-grandson, great-grandnephew

Derived terms

• jonü'kö

Etymology 2

Noun

jonü

1. navel, belly button
2. (often in the past possessed form) afterbirth; placenta and umbilical cord

References

• Cáceres, Natalia (2011) “jonü”, in Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana‎^[1], Lyon
• Hall, Katherine Lee (1988) “ho:nü”, in The morphosyntax of discourse in De'kwana Carib, volumes I and II, Saint Louis, Missouri: PhD Thesis, Washington University, page 291
• Hall, Katherine (2007) “honɨ”, in Mary Ritchie Key & Bernard Comrie, editors, The Intercontinental Dictionary Series‎^[2], Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, published 2021
• Lauer, Matthew Taylor (2005) Fertility in Amazonia: Indigenous Concepts of the Human Reproductive Process Among the Ye’kwana of Southern Venezuela‎^[3], Santa Barbara: University of California, page 223
• Monterrey, Nalúa Rosa Silva (2012) Hombres de curiara y mujeres de conuco. Etnografía de los indigenas Ye’kwana de Venezuela, Ciudad Bolívar: Universidad Nacional Experimental de Guayana, pages 62–65, 70–71, 74