| Arhuaco | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ika | ||||
| Spoken in | Colombia | |||
| Ethnicity | Arhuacos | |||
| Native speakers | 14,800 (2001) | |||
| Language family |
Chibchan
|
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | arh | |||
|
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Arhuaco, oommonly known as Ika, is an Indigenous American language of the Chibchan language family, spoken in South America.[1]
It has 14,800 speakers, all in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region of Colombia, 90% of whom are monolingual.[1] Literacy is 1 to 5% in their native language. Some speak Spanish, and 15 to 25% are literate in that auxiliary language.[1] The users have a very strong traditional culture and have vibrant use of their tongue.[1]
It is also known as: Aruaco, Bintuk, Bíntukua, Bintucua, Ica, Ijca, Ijka, Ika, and Ike.[1]
The language uses a subject–object–verb (SOV) sentence structure.[1]
| Back vowels | Central vowels | Front vowels | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open vowels | i | ɨ "ʉ" | u |
| Mid vowels | e | ə "ë" | o |
| Close vowels | a |
/ə/ is raised to and merged with /ɨ/ word finally.
This language registers 17 consonantic phonemas:
| Labial | Alveolar | Alveolo-palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| occlusive (voiceless) | p | t | tʃ | k | ʔ |
| occlusive (voiced) | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | |
| nasal | m | n~ŋ | |||
| fricative | s | h | |||
| fricative | β "w" | z | ʒ | ||
| flap | ɾ |