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Puinave language
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Puinave language
Puinave, Waipunavi (Guaipunabi) or Wanse (Wã́nsöjöt [ˈw̃ã́nsɤhɤt]; Puinave: Wãnsöhöt) is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela. It is generally considered to be a language isolate.
There are about 6,800 people in 32 communities along the banks of the Inírida River in Guainía Department, Colombia. Additionally, there are 470 people in 10 communities along the Orinoco River, in the Colombia–Venezuela border region.
Other names for the language include Camaku del Guaviare or Camaku del Inírida.
Varieties listed by Mason (1950):
Alternate names of Puinave are Puinabe, Puinavis, Uaipunabis, Guaipunavos, Uaipis.
Puinave is sometimes linked to other poorly attested languages of the region in various Macro-Puinavean proposals, but no good evidence has ever been produced. The original motivation seems to simply be that all of these languages were called Maku ('babble') by Arawakans. Ongoing work on Puinave by Girón Higuita at the University of Amsterdam will hopefully clarify the situation.
Syllable structure is (C)V(C); nasal syllabic nuclei cause allophonic variation of consonantal segments in the same syllable. The phonemes /m n/ have oral, non-sonorant allophones [b d] in the onsets of syllables with oral nuclei.
The high vowel [u], when occurring in onset or coda position, is realized as a glide [w]. When the high vowel /i/ is in coda position, it is also realized as a glide [j], but in onset position, it is realized as a palatal stop matching in nasality with the nucleus, either [ɟ] or [ɲ], in the same way that /m n/ match the following vowel's nasality. Any glides [w] occurring before or [j w] occurring after a nasalized nucleus are also realized as nasal [j̃ w̃].
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Puinave language AI simulator
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Puinave language
Puinave, Waipunavi (Guaipunabi) or Wanse (Wã́nsöjöt [ˈw̃ã́nsɤhɤt]; Puinave: Wãnsöhöt) is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela. It is generally considered to be a language isolate.
There are about 6,800 people in 32 communities along the banks of the Inírida River in Guainía Department, Colombia. Additionally, there are 470 people in 10 communities along the Orinoco River, in the Colombia–Venezuela border region.
Other names for the language include Camaku del Guaviare or Camaku del Inírida.
Varieties listed by Mason (1950):
Alternate names of Puinave are Puinabe, Puinavis, Uaipunabis, Guaipunavos, Uaipis.
Puinave is sometimes linked to other poorly attested languages of the region in various Macro-Puinavean proposals, but no good evidence has ever been produced. The original motivation seems to simply be that all of these languages were called Maku ('babble') by Arawakans. Ongoing work on Puinave by Girón Higuita at the University of Amsterdam will hopefully clarify the situation.
Syllable structure is (C)V(C); nasal syllabic nuclei cause allophonic variation of consonantal segments in the same syllable. The phonemes /m n/ have oral, non-sonorant allophones [b d] in the onsets of syllables with oral nuclei.
The high vowel [u], when occurring in onset or coda position, is realized as a glide [w]. When the high vowel /i/ is in coda position, it is also realized as a glide [j], but in onset position, it is realized as a palatal stop matching in nasality with the nucleus, either [ɟ] or [ɲ], in the same way that /m n/ match the following vowel's nasality. Any glides [w] occurring before or [j w] occurring after a nasalized nucleus are also realized as nasal [j̃ w̃].
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