Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Muinane language

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Native to
  
Colombia

ISO 639-3
  
bmr

Native speakers
  
150 (2007)

Glottolog
  
muin1242

Ethnicity
  
550 Witoto people (2007)

Language family
  
Bora–Witoto Boran Muinane

Muinane is an indigenous American language spoken in western South America.

Contents

Classification

Muinane belongs to the Witotoan language family. Along with Bora, it comprises the Boran sub-grouping.

Geographic distribution

Muinane is spoken by 150 people in Colombia along the Upper Cahuinarí river in the Department of Amazonas. There may be some speakers in Peru.

Consonants

  • Voiceless stops and affricates contrast with their geminate counterparts: tː tʃː tʲː kː.

    • Tone

    There are two tones in Muinane: high and low.

    Grammar

    Word order in Muinane is generally SOV. Case marking is nominative–accusative.

    Writing System

    Muinane is written using a Latin alphabet. A chart of symbols with the sounds they represent as is follows:

  • Palatalized consonants are written using the unpalatalized forms plus y: ty /tʲ/, dy /dʲ/, ry /rʲ/. For the purposes of alphabetization, these are considered sequences of letters.
  • Tone is not generally indicated in writing. When it is shown, it is indicated by an acute accent over the vowel: á, é, í, ɨ́, ó, ú.
  • The Muinane writing system is based on Spanish orthography. For that reason, the sound /k/ is written as c before a, ɨ, o, and u and as qu before e and i. Likewise, the sound /ɡ/ is written as gu before e and i, and g elsewhere.

    • References

    Muinane language Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA