Karitiâna language

Karitiâna
Spoken in Brazil
Ethnicity Karitiâna
Native speakers 320  (2005)
Language family
Tupian
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ktn
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Karitiâna or Caritiana is a Tupi language spoken in the state of Rondônia, in the Amazon region of Brazil. Their reservation, demarcated by the Fundação Nacional do Indio (FUNAI) in 1977, consists of roughly 90,000 hectares of jungle. The majority of the Karitiana people live in one village at the northern edge of this reservation, located 90 km (by road) south of the state capital, Porto Velho.

Contents

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i ĩ ɨ ɨ̃
Mid e ẽ o õ
Low a ã

Consonants

Bilabial Coronal Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p t k ʔ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Fricative s h
Rhotic r
Approximant j w

The nasals /m n ɲ/ are prestopped [ᵇm ᵈn ᶡɲ] if they are preceded by an oral vowel, and poststopped [mᵇ nᵈ ɲᶡ] if they are followed by one. The velar nasal /ŋ/ is denasalized to [ɡ] before oral vowels in unstressed syllables, poststopped to [ŋᶢ] before oral vowels in stressed syllables, and prestopped [ᶢŋ] after oral vowels.

/h r j w/ are nasalized [h̃ r̃ w̃ ȷ̃] when surrounded by nasal vowels.

References

External links