Mapudungun alphabet
This article deals with the proposed orthographies of Mapudungun. The Mapuche did not have a writing system when the Spanish arrived, and historically there have been a number of proposals for a Mapudungun alphabet, all of them using Latin script. To this day, no consensus has been achieved between authorities, linguists and Mapuche communities on an unified writing system; the main systems are the following:
- Alfabeto Mapuche Unificado ("Unified Alphabet"), used by Chilean linguists and other people in many publications in/on the language. It has the support of the Chilean Catholic church.
- Grafemario Ragileo, made by Anselmo Ranguileo Lincopil (1922–1992) and defended by the indigenous Mapuche organization Consejo de Todas las Tierras. The only alphabet made by a mapuche.
- Nhewenh writing system, an online proposal [1] by Heinrich Puschmann, based on the ascii character set in order facilitate the usage of the language on the internet.
- Azumchefi (also called Azümchefe), proposed by the Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena (CONADI) as a summary of about six earlier proposals, and recognized by the Chilean Ministry of Education, but not widely used.
Consonants [edit]
Mapudungun has the following consonant system.
| Phoneme | Unified Alphabet | Ragileo | Nhewenh | Azumchefi | NICE | place of articulation | type of articulation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /p/ | p | p | p | p | p | bilabial | plosive |
| /t̟/ | ṯ | * | td | * | t' | interdental | plosive |
| /t/ | t | t | t | t | t | alveolar | plosive |
| /k/ | k | k | k | k | k | velar | plosive |
| /tʃ/ | ch | c | ch | ch | ch | postalveolar | affricate |
| /tʂ/ | tr | x | tr | tx | tr | retroflex | affricate |
| /f/ | f | f | f | f | f | labiodental or bilabial | fricative |
| /θ/ | d | z | sd | z | d | interdental | fricative |
| /s/ | s | s | * | s | s | alveolar | fricative |
| /ʃ/ | sh | * | sh | sh | sh | postalveolar | fricative |
| /m/ | m | m | m | m | m | bilabial | nasal |
| /n̟/ | ṉ | h | nd | nh | n' | interdental | nasal |
| /n/ | n | n | n | n | n | alveolar | nasal |
| /ɲ/ | ñ | ñ | nh, ñ | ñ | ñ | palatal | nasal |
| /ŋ/ | ng | g | g | g | ng | velar | nasal |
| /w/ | w | w | w | w | w | labiovelar | approximant |
| /j/ | y | y | j | y | y | palatal | approximant |
| /ɣ/ or /ɰ/ (**) | g | q | q | q | g | velar | approximant |
| /ɻ/ | r | r | r | r | r | retroflex | approximant |
| /l̟/ | ḻ | b | ld | lh | l' | interdental | lateral |
| /l/ | l | l | l | l | l | alveolar | lateral |
| /ʎ/ | ll | j | lh | ll | ll | palatal | lateral |
(*) Raguileo doesn't distinguish between /s/ and /ʃ/, and between /t̪/ and /t/. Also, Raguileo aims to use only one grapheme for each phoneme (no digraphs), so he uses some letters from the alphabet in a non-standard way.
(**) Corresponds to /ɨ/ in the same way that /j/ corresponds to /i/ and /w/ corresponds to /u/.
Allophones [edit]
Vowels [edit]
Mapudungun has six vowels. The three high vowels also have corresponding approximant consonants.
| Phoneme | Unified Alphabet | Ragileo | Nhewenh | Azumchefi | [front] | [back] | [round] | [high] | [low] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | a | a | a | a | + | - | - | - | + |
| /e/ | e | e | e | e | + | - | - | - | - |
| /i/ | i, y | i | i | i, y | + | - | - | + | - |
| /o/ | o | o | o | o | - | + | + | - | - |
| /u/ | u, w | u | u | u, w | - | + | + | + | - |
| /ɨ/* | ü | v | v, y | ü | - | - | - | + | - |
(*) When unstressed, it becomes a schwa (ə).
|
|||||
