Carapana language explained

Carapana language should not be confused with Andoquero language.

Carapano
Nativename:	Mõxtã
States:	Colombia, Brazil
Date:	2012
Ref:	e25
Familycolor:	American
Fam1:	Tucanoan
Fam2:	Eastern
Fam3:	Central
Fam4:	Tatuyo–Carapano
Iso3:	cbc
Glotto:	cara1272
Glottorefname:	Carapana
Map:	Carapana.png

Carapano (Karapanã, Carapana-tapuya, Möxdöá) is a Tucanoan language of Colombia and Brazil.

Phonology

Carapano has 11 consonants.

! Bilabial! Alveolar! Palatal! Velar! Glottal

	voiceless	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
	voiced	pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/
Fricative			pronounced as /ink/
Tap			pronounced as /ink/
Approximant		pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/

• pronounced as //p, t, k// alternate with /pronounced as /ink/, pronounced as /ink/, pronounced as /ink//.
• pronounced as //b, d, g// become [{{IPAlink|m}}, {{IPAlink|n}}, {{IPAlink|ŋ}}] before nasal vowels. They become [{{IPAlink|ᵐb}}, {{IPAlink|ⁿd}}, {{IPAlink|ᵑg}}] after nasal vowels.
• pronounced as //b, d// alternate with pronounced as /[ᵐb, ⁿd]/ at the beginning of a word, e.g., báì pronounced as //báì// pronounced as /[báì]~[ᵐbáì]/ .
• pronounced as /link/ alternates with pronounced as /link/.
• pronounced as /link/ has three variants
  • pronounced as /link/ next to nasal vowels
  • pronounced as /link/ before oral vowels, at the beginning of a word, and
  • pronounced as /link/ elsewhere.
• pronounced as //w, h// are often [{{IPAlink|β}}, {{IPAlink|x}}] before front vowels.
• pronounced as /link/ alternates with pre-stopped pronounced as /ink/.
• pronounced as //w, j, h// become [{{IPAlink|w̃}}, {{IPAlink|j̃}}, {{IPAlink|h̃}}] before nasal vowels.

It also has 6 vowels and their nasalized forms, plus high and low tones.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Mid	pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/
Open		pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/

• The mid vowels pronounced as //e, ẽ, o, õ// are phonetically [{{IPAlink|ɛ}}, {{IPAlink|ɛ̃}}, {{IPAlink|ɔ}}, {{IPAlink|ɔ̃}}].
• Mid tone is an allotone of the low tone.

Orthography

Metzger and Metzger use the following orthography.

IPA	Orthography
a	a
e	e
i	i
o	o
u	u
ɨ	ʉ
ã	ã
ẽ	ẽ
ĩ	ĩ
õ	õ
ũ	ũ
ɨ̃	ʉ̃
b	b, m
d	d, n
j	y, ñ
g	g, gu
h	j
k	c, qu
p	p
r	r
s	s
t	t
w	w
pronounced as /ink/	◌́
pronounced as /ink/	not marked

Works cited

• Book: Metzger . Ronald . Metzger . Lois . Fonología del carapana . Sistemas fonológicos de idiomas columbianos . 2 . es . Instituto Lingüístico de Verano . 1973 . 121–132 .