Muinane language
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Muinane is an indigenous American language spoken in western South America.
Classification
Muinane belongs to the Witotoan language family. Along with Bora, it comprises the Boran sub-grouping.
Geographic distribution
Ocaina is spoken by 150 people in Colombia along the Upper Cahuinarí river in the Department of Amazonas. There may be some speakers in Peru.
Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Postalveolar/ Palatal |
Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||
| Plosive | p b | t d | tʲ dʲ | k g | ʔ |
| Affricate | tʃ dʒ | ||||
| Fricative | ɸ β | s | ʃ j | x | |
| Trill | r | rʲ |
- Voiceless stops and affricates contrast with their geminate counterparts: tt tʃtʃ ttʲ kk.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Low | e | a | o |
Tone
There are two tones in Muinane: high and low.
Grammar
Word order in Muinane is generally SOV. Case marking is nominative-accusative.
Writing System
Muinane is written using a modified version of the Latin alphabet. A chart of symbols with the sounds they represent as is follows:
| Latin | IPA | Latin | IPA | Latin | IPA | Latin | IPA | Latin | IPA | Latin | IPA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | b | /b/ | c | /k/ | ch | /tʃ/ | d | /d | e | /e/ |
| f | /ɸ/ | g | /g/ | h | /ʔ/ | i | /i/ | ɨ | /ɨ/ | j | /x/ |
| ll | /dʒ/ | m | /m/ | n | /n/ | ñ | /ɲ/ | o | /o/ | p | /p/ |
| q | /k/ | r | /r/ | s | /s/ | sh | /ʃ/ | t | /t/ | u | /u/ |
| v | /β/ | y | /j/ |
- Palatalized consonants are written using the unpalatalized forms plus y: ty /tʲ/, dy /dʲ/, ry /rʲ/. For the purposes of alphabetization, these are considered sequences of letters.
- Tone is not generally indicated in writing. When it is shown, it is indicated by an acute accent over the vowel: á, é, í, ɨ́, ó, ú.
- The Muinane writing system is based on that of Spanish. For that reason, the sound /k/ is written as c before a, ɨ, o, and u and as qu before e and i. Likewise, the sound /g/ is written as gu before e and i, and g elsewhere.
References
- Aschmann, Richard P. (1993). Proto-Witotoan. Arlington, TX: SIL International. ISBN 0-88312-189-1.
- Walton, James W.; Walton, Janice P. (1967), "Phonemes of Muinane", in Waterhouse, Viola G. (ed.), Phonemic systems of Colombian languages, Norman, OK: SIL International, pp. 37–47
- Walton, James P.; Walton, Janice W.; Pakky de Buenaventure, Clementina (1997), Diccionario Bilingüe Muinane-Español/Español-Muinane, Santafé de Bogotá: Editorial Buena Semilla, ISBN 968-9281-12-5
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