Minica Huitoto language
| Minica Huitoto | |
|---|---|
| Mɨnɨka | |
| Native to | Colombia, Peru |
Native speakers | 1,500 (2008)[1] |
Bora–Witoto ?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | hto |
| Glottolog | mini1256 |
| ELP | Minica Huitoto |
Minica Huitoto (Mɨnɨka) is one of three indigenous American Huitoto languages of the Witotoan family spoken by a few thousand speakers in western South America.[1]
It is spoken in the Upper Igara-Paraná river area, along the Caquetá River at the Isla de los Monos, and the Caguán River near San Vicente del Caguán. There is 75% literacy in Colombia and 85% are literate in Spanish; most are bilingual. There is a dictionary and grammar rules.[1]
There are only five speakers in Peru, where it has official standing within its community.[1]
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɯ | u | |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | a | |||
However, Ávila's 2018 analysis yields a different chart.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
Consonants
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | θ | x | ||
| voiced | β | |||||
| Tap | ɾ | |||||
- Stops /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/ may be prenasalized as [ᵐb], [ⁿd], and [ᵑɡ] in word-initial position.[5]
- Labial consonants /b/, /ɸ/, /m/ may also be heard as labialized [bʷ], [ɸʷ], and [mʷ] before the back-close vowel /ɯ/.[5]
Accent
Minica Huitoto has a mobile accent that falls on either the first or second syllable in a word with more than two syllables. This accent does not move when a suffix is added. The syllables of bisyllabic roots are either both accented, or the first is.[6]
Writing system
| a | b | c | ch | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | ll | m | n | ñ | ng | o | p | q | r | t | u | v | ɨ | z |
Notes
- ^ a b c d Minica Huitoto at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Minor & Minor 1976, p. 60.
- ^ Ávila 2018, p. 56.
- ^ Ávila 2018, p. 16, citing Minor & Minor 1976, p. 60
- ^ a b Ávila 2018, pp. 17, citing Minor & Minor 1976, p. 63
- ^ Ávila 2018, p. 17-18, citing Gasché 2009, pp. 17–18
- ^ Minor & Minor 1987, p. xiii.
References
- Ávila, Youlín (2018). Las vocales en sílabas CV orales acentuadas del mɨnɨka hablado en Bogotá: una descripción fonética acústica (Master's thesis). Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo. pp. 16–17.
- Gasché, Jürg (2009). "Esbozo gramatical de la lengua huitoto". A multimedia documentation of the languages of the People of the Center. Draft (in Spanish). hdl:1839/00-0000-0000-000F-59EA-B.
- Minor, Eugene E.; Minor, Dorothy A. (1976). "Fonología del huitoto". Sistemas fonológicos de idiomas colombianos (in Spanish). Vol. III. Bogotá: Townsend. pp. 59–67 – via SIL International.
- Minor, Eugene E.; Minor, Dorothy A. (1987). Vocabulario bilingüe: huitoto-español, español-huitoto (dialecto mɨnɨca) (in Spanish). Bogotá: Townsend. ISBN 1-55671-050-X – via SIL International.