Zuruahá (also called Suruaha, Suruwaha, Suruwahá, Zuruwahã, Zuruaha, Índios do Coxodoá [2]) is an Arawan language spoken in Brazil by about 130 people.
Zuruahá is mentioned in Kaufman (1994) from personal communication from Dan Everett. He made first contact with the community (a 3-day hike from Dení territory in Amazonas state) in 1980. The language had not been studied as of 1994, but seems most similar to Deni.
Phonology
Phoneme inventory
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u1 |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ||
| Open | a | ||
- The vowel /u/ is ambiguous regarding its classification in the system. As in Deni and other languages of the family, it works as if it had an intermediate height between /a/ and /e/. In other words, /u/ is not specified in the terms of the close feature. The asymmetry of the vowel system is also due to the insertion of /i/ in the system. This vowel appears to have been introduced into the system more recently. According to Dixon and Everett, the central vowel was not part of the Proto-Arawá vowel system. In Suruwahá, it has a different behaviour than the other vowels: it is rare in the language of old people; never appears in diphthongs and is the phonetic realization of the neutralisation of the contrast between the other vowels in certain positions.[3]
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Alveopalatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | b | t tʲ d dʲ1 | k g | ||
| Nasal | m | n nʲ | |||
| Tap | ɾ ɾʲ2 | ||||
| Affricate | dʒ | ||||
| Fricative | s z | ʃ | h | ||
| Approximant | w |
- Suruwahá's alveolar plosive consonants are slightly backed, resembling retroflex consonants.
- The alveolar tap occurs in colloquial speech, but, in careful pronunciation, it is actually pronounced as an alveolar lateral flap.[3]
References
- ^ a b c Zuruahá at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Zuruahã
- ^ a b Esboço preliminar da fonologia Suruwahá
External links
- "Suruahá" in the South American Phonological Inventory Database
- "Hakani," information about a popular hoax film about the Zuruahã, Survival International
- "Esboço preliminar da fonologia Suruwahá"
- "Fonética e fonologia do Suruwahá"
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This page was last edited on 24 May 2024, at 23:16