Siona language

Siona (otherwise known as Bain Coca, Pioje, Pioche-Sioni, Ganteyabain, Ganteya, Ceona, Zeona, Koka, Kanú) is a Tucanoan language of Colombia and Ecuador. The language is essentially the same as Secoya, but speakers are ethnically distinct.

Siona
Gantëya coca
Native toColombia, Ecuador
RegionPutumayo River
EthnicitySiona people, Teteté people
Native speakers
500 (2000–2008)[1]
Tucanoan
  • Western
    • Napo
      • Siona–Secoya
        • Siona
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
snn – Siona
teb – Teteté
Glottologsion1247
ELP

As of 2013, Siona is spoken by about 550 people.[2] Teteté dialect (Eteteguaje) is extinct.[3]

Phonology

Vowels

There are 6 oral vowels and six nasal vowels. Only nasal vowels occur next to a nasal consonant /m/ or /n/.

Back Central Front
High i ĩ ɨ ɨ̃ u ũ
Mid ɛ æ̃ o õ
Low a ã

Consonants

There are two series of obstruent consonant. Both often produce a noticeable delay before the onset of the following vowel: the 'fortis' series (written p t č k kw s h hw) tends to be aspirated, with a noisy transition to the vowel, while the 'lenis' series (written b d g gw ’ z), optionally voiced, is glottalized, with a silent transition to the vowel, which in turn tends to be laryngealized. The glottal stop is faint, and noticeable primarily in the laryngealizing effect it has on adjacent vowels.

bilabial alveolar prepalatal velar labio-velar glottal
Plosive fortis pʰ t̪ʰ tʃʰ kʰ kʷʰ ʔ
lenis pˀ ~ bˀ ʈˀ ~ ɖˀ ~ ɾ kˀ ~ ɡˀ kʷˀ ~ ɡʷˀ
Fricative s ; sˀ ~ zˀ h ; hʷ
Nasal m n
Semivowel j ~ ɲ w

/ʈˀ/ is realized as [ɾ] between vowels. /j/ is realized as [ɲ] next to nasal vowels.

Stress

Stress is obligatory on all verb stems, root words, and some suffixes. It disappears when the syllable is not the nucleus of a phonological word. Some monosyllabic morphemes have both stressed and unstressed forms. Although the position of stress within a word is not contrastive, vocalic and consonantal allophony depends on whether a syllable is stressed. Initial stressed vowels followed by unstressed vowels are long and have a falling tone.

References
  1. Siona at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Teteté at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. "Vocabulary of the Language Used by the Indians in These Missions". World Digital Library. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
  3. Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
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