Uw Cuwa

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Uw Cuwa
Spoken in: Northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Boyacá Department, Colombia; Venezuela
Total speakers: 1,800–3,600[1]
Language family: Chibchan
 Chibchan Proper
  Uw Cuwa
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: sai
ISO 639-3: variously:
tnd – Angosturas Tunebo
tbn – Barro Negro Tunebo
tuf – Central Tunebo
tnb – Western Tunebo
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Uw Cuwa is a Chibchan language spoken by between 1,800 and 3,600 of the U'wa people (formerly known as "Tunebo") of Colombia, out of a total population of about 7,000.[1]

Contents

[edit] Dialects

Dialects at the time of European contact, include -

  1. The Duit dialect (in Duitama)
  2. Sinsiga (in Chita, and likely Róyota and Cobaría)
  3. Tunebo (in Margua, Sínsiga, Bocota and Cubugón)
  4. Tegría (in the Pamplona Valley and Uncacía del Sarare, in North Santander)

Current dialects as described by Fabre 2005 are as follows:

  1. Angosturas Tunebo - nearly extinct
  2. Eastern Tunebo (or barro negro) at least 300 speakers (1981) in Barro Negro, Tabías and San Lope (Casanare)
  3. Central Tunebo (Cobaría) - 1.500 (1982)
  4. Western Tunebo (Aguas Blancas) undetermined number in southern Santander

[edit] Phonology

[edit] Vowel

Front Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

[edit] Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-velar Glottal
Voiceless stop t k kʷ ʔ
Voiced Stop b
Fricative s ʃ h
Nasal m n
Vibrant r
Oral semi-vowel w j
Nasal semi-vowel w̃

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b Adelaar & Muysken (2004): p. 109.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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