Wiwa language
| Damana | |
|---|---|
| Malayo | |
| Native to | Colombia |
| Region | Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta |
Native speakers | 1,850 (2007)[1] |
Chibchan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mbp |
| Glottolog | mala1522 |
| ELP | Guamaca |
 | |
Damana (also known as Malayo, Wiwa, Arosario, Arsario, Guamaca, Guamaka, Maracasero, Marocasero, Sancá, Sanja, Sanka, Wamaka)[2] is a Chibchan language spoken by the indigenous Wiwa people on the southern and eastern slopes of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia. According to Ethnologue, it was spoken by 1,850 people in 2007;[2] however, according to the Colombian Ministry of Culture, there were 13,627 Wiwa people in 2010, of whom some 60% speak Damana well.[3]
Phonology
Vowels
There are seven phonemic vowels in Damana:
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ʉ | u |
| Mid | ə | o | |
| Open | a |
Consonants
Damana has 19 phonemic consonants:
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Palatal/Palatalized | Velar | Glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||||||||
| Stop | p | t | d | c | ɟ | k | g | |||
| Fricative | s | z | ɕ | ʑ | h | |||||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||
| Continuant | w | |||||||||
References
- ^ Damana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ a b "Malayo". Ethnologue. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ "Un poco más de la mitad de la población wiwa habla bien la lengua damana" [A little more than half of the Wiwa population speak Damana well]. Ministerio de Cultura, Colombia (in Spanish). 24 February 2010. Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2018.