Guanano language

Guanano
Spoken in Brazil, Colombia
Native speakers 1000  (date missing)
Language family
Tucanoan
  • Eastern
    • Northern
      • Guanano
Language codes
ISO 639-3 gvc
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Guanano (also Wanano) is a Tucanoan language spoken in the northwest part of Amazonas in Brazil and in Vaupés in Colombia.

Contents

Classification

Guanano belongs to the Northern branch of the Eastern Tucanoan languages, along with Arapaso, Piratapuyo, and Tucano.

Geographic distribution

Speakers of Wanano live in Brazil and Colombia. According to Stenzel (2004), a census taken in October, 2003 establishes the Wanano population as 1,560, approximately one-third of whom currently live in Brazil . The Wanano live in 21 traditional communities along the Vaupés River.

Phonology

Consonants

Guanano consonant phonemes
  Bilabial Alveolar Palato
alveolar		 Velar Glottal
Plosive p b t d     k ɡ ʔ  
Affricate         tʃ          
Fricative     s           h  
Flap     r            
Approximant w     j        

Nasalization is carried on vowels. Voiced plosives and /j/ may surface as the nasal consonants /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, and /ɲ/ in the environment of nasal vowels.

Vowels

Guanano vowel phonemes
  Front Central Back
High i ɨ u
Low e a o

Suprasegmental Elements

Syllables may be marked with either a high or low stress accent. Nasalization is suprasegmental moves from left to right through a word.

Grammar

Guanano is an SOV language.

Vocabulary

Personal Pronouns

Guanano personal pronouns
  Singular Plural
1st Person Exclusive /yɨɨ́/ [yɨˈʔɨ] "I" /sã́/ [ˈsã] "we (and not you)"
1st Person Inclusive /bãrĩ́/ [mãˈňĩ] "we (and you)"
2nd Person /bɨ̃ɨ̃́/ [mɨ̃ˈʔɨ̃] "you" /bɨ̃sã́/ [mɨ̃ɨ̥̃ˈsã] "you"
3rd Person Masculine /tíro/ [ˈtiro] "he" /tídã/ [ˈtinã] "they"
3rd Person Feminine /tí-koro/ [ˈtikoro] "she"

References

External links