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Wounaan language

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Chocoan language of Panama and Colombia
Wounaan
Noanamá
Woun Meu
Native toColombia, Panama
EthnicityEmbera-Wounaan
Native speakers10,800 (2007)
Language familyChocoan
  • Wounaan
Language codes
ISO 639-3noa
Glottologwoun1238
ELPWaunana

The Wounaan language, also known as Noanamá and Woun Meu, is a Chocoan language, with around 10,000 speakers on the border between Panama and Colombia.

Phonology

The following tables show the vowel and consonant sounds of Wounaan, transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Vowels

Vowels
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
Close oral i ɯ u
nasal ĩ ɯ̃ ũ
Close-mid oral e ɤ o
nasal ẽ ɤ̃ õ
Open oral a
nasal ã

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless p t k ʔ
aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ
voiced b d g
Affricate (tʃ)
Fricative s ɕ h
Nasal m n
Approximant l j w
Trill r
Flap ɾ
  • /ɕ/ occurs as [t͡ʃ] across dialects.
  • /t͡ʃ/ occurs as [ʃ] at the end of a word.

Notes

  1. Wounaan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Mejía 2000.
  3. Murillo Miranda & Marín Esquivel 2022, pp. 17–39.

References

  • Mejía, Gustavo (2000). "Presentación y descripción fonológica y morfosintáctica del waunana". In González de Pérez, María Stella; Rodríguez de Montes, María Luisa (eds.). Lenguas indígenas de Colombia: una visión descriptiva. Santafé de Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo. pp. 85–96.
  • Murillo Miranda, José Manuel; Marín Esquivel, Rebeca (2022). "Notas sobre la fonología del waunana de Panamá". Revista Lengua y Literatura (in Spanish). 8 (1): 17–39.
Choco languages
Choco
Embera
Italics indicate extinct languages


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