Kwaza language
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| Kwaza | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in | Rondônia | |
| Total speakers | 25 (as of 2005[update]) | |
| Language family | Unclassified
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1 | None | |
| ISO 639-2 | sai | |
| ISO 639-3 | xwa – tentative [1] | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Kwaza (also written Kwazá or Koaiá) is an endangered, unclassified language spoken by the Kwaza people of Brazil. As of 1998[update] there were only 25 known speakers, though over half of these were children.
Contents |
[edit] Phonology
[edit] Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ | y /ɨ/ | u /u/ |
| Mid | e /e/ | ||
| Open-Mid | ɛ /ɛ/ œ /œ/ |
o /ɔ/ | |
| Open | a /a/ |
- All vowels, except <œ>, may be nasalized.
[edit] Consonants
| Labial | Lamino-alveolar | Apico-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | Voiceless | p /p/ | t /t/ | c /c/ | k /k/ | ? /ʔ/ | |
| Implosive | b /ɓ/ | d /ɗ/ | |||||
| Affricate | ts /t͡s/ | tx /t͡ʃ/ | |||||
| Fricative | s /s/ | x /s̠~ʃ̠/ | h /h/ | ||||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ñ /ɲ/ | ||||
| Tap | r /ɾ/ | ||||||
| Lateral | l /l/ | ||||||
| Approximant | w /w/ | j /j/ | |||||
[edit] Further reading
- van der Voort, Hein (2004). A Grammar of Kwaza. Mouton de Gruyter.
- van der Voort, Hein (November 1998). "Kwazá". Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil. http://socioambiental.org/pib/epienglish/kwaza/kwaza.shtm.
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