Yucuna
Jukuna
Native toColombia
Native speakers
1,800 (2001)[1]
Arawakan
Language codes
ISO 639-3ycn
qqj (Guarú)
Glottologyucu1253  Yucuna
guar1294  Guaru
ELPYucuna

Yucuna (Jukuna), also known as Matapi, Yucuna-Matapi, and Yukunais,[1] is an Arawakan language spoken in several communities along the Mirití-Paraná River in Colombia.[2] Extinct Guarú (Garú) was either a dialect or a closely related language. Yucuna is a polysynthetic language, and it uses SVO word order.[3]

Phonology

The Yucuna phoneme inventory consists of 16 consonants and 5 vowels.[4]

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a
Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ⟨ñ⟩ (ŋ)[a]
Plosive unaspirated p t t͡ʃ ⟨ch⟩ k ⟨c/qu⟩[b] ʔ ⟨'⟩
aspirated pʰ ⟨ph⟩ tʰ ⟨th⟩
Fricative s h ⟨j⟩
Approximant w ⟨hu⟩ l j ⟨y⟩
Tap ɾ ⟨r⟩
  1. ^ /ŋ/ occurs as an allophone of /n/ before /k/.
  2. ^ /k/ can be written ⟨qu⟩ before front vowels, and ⟨c⟩ otherwise.

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ a b Yucuna at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Lemus Serrano 2020, p. 1.
  3. ^ "Yucuna Language and the Yucuna Indian Tribe (Yukuna, Jucuna, Matapi)". www.native-languages.org. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  4. ^ Schauer, Stanley; Shauer, Junia (1967). Yucuna Phonemics. The Long Now Foundation. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

Bibliography

External links


Languages of Colombia
Arawakan (Maipurean) languages
Categories