Ocaina_language

Ocaina language

Ocaina language

Bora–Huitoto language spoken in South America


Ocaina is an indigenous American language spoken in western South America.

Quick Facts Native to, Native speakers ...

Classification

Ocaina belongs to the Witotoan language family. It is its own group within the Huitoto-Ocaina sub-family.

Geographic distribution

Ocaina is spoken by 54 people in northeastern Peru and by 12 more in the Amazonas region of Colombia. Few children speak the language.[citation needed]

Dialects/Varieties

There are two dialects of Ocaina: Dukaiya and Ibo'tsa.

Phonology

Consonants

More information Bilabial, Alveolar ...

Vowels

More information Front, Central ...

Tone

Syllables in Ocaina may be marked with one of two tones: high or low.

Syllables

Syllables in Ocaina consist of a vowel; single consonants may appear on either side of the vowel: (C)V(C).

Writing system

Ocaina is written using a Latin alphabet. A chart of symbols with the sounds they represent is as follows:

More information Latin, IPA ...
  • Because the Ocaina alphabet is based on Spanish, c is used to indicate /k/ before a, o, and u, qu is used before e and i, and k is used in loan words, such as kerosene "kerosene".
  • Nasalization is indicated by inserting n after a vowel. Compare: tya tyója [tʲa tʲóha] "hang it" vs. tya tyonjan [tʲa tʲṍhã] "clean it".
  • High tone is indicated with the acute accent: á, é, í, ó, ú.

References

  1. Ocaina at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  • Agnew, Arlene; Evelyn G. Pike (January 1957). "Phonemes of Ocaina (Huitoto)". International Journal of American Linguistics. 23 (1): 24–27. doi:10.1086/464385.
  • Leach, Ilo M. (2008). Mary Ruth Wise (ed.). Vocabulario Ocaina (PDF). Serie Lingüística Peruana (in Spanish). Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). Yarinacocha, Peru: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano.

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