Minica Huitoto language

Minica (Mɨnɨka) Huitoto is one of three indigenous American Huitoto languages of the Witotoan family spoken by a few thousand speakers in western South America.[1]

Minica Huitoto
Mɨnɨka
Native toColombia, Perú
Native speakers
1,500 (2008)[1]
Bora–Witoto
Language codes
ISO 639-3hto
Glottologmini1256
ELPMinica Huitoto

It is spoken in the Upper Igara-Paraná river area, along the Caquetá River at the Isla de los Monos, and the Caguán River near San Vicente del Caguán. There is 75% literacy in Colombia and 85% are literate in Spanish; most are bilingual. There is a dictionary and grammar rules.[1]

There are only five speakers in Perú, where it has official standing within its community.[1]

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i ɯ u
Mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

Consonants

Labial Dental/
Alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless p t k ʔ
voiced b d ɡ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Fricative voiceless ɸ θ x
voiced β
Tap ɾ
  • Stops /b, d, ɡ/ may also be prenasalized as [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ] in word-initial position.
  • Labial consonants /b, ɸ, m/ may also be heard as labialized [bʷ, ɸʷ, mʷ] before the back-close vowel /ɯ/.[2]

Writing system

Minica Huitoto alphabet[3]
abcchd efghi jllmnñ ngopqr tuvɨz

Notes

  1. Minica Huitoto at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. Ávila, Youlín (2018). Las vocales en sílabas CV orales acentuadas del mɨnɨka hablado en Bogotá: una descripción fonética acústica. Bogotá, Colombia: Instituto Caro y Cuervo. pp. 16–17.
  3. "Vocabulario bilingüe: huitoto-español, español-huitoto (dialecto mɨnɨca)". SIL International. 24 January 2013.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.