| Terêna | |
| States: | Brazil |
| Ethnicity: | Terena people |
| Date: | 2006 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Fam1: | Arawakan |
| Fam2: | Southern |
| Fam3: | Bolivia–Parana |
| Iso2: | ter |
| Lc2: | gqn |
| Ld2: | Kinikinao & Guaná |
| Lc1: | ter |
| Ld1: | Terena |
| Lc3: | caj |
| Ld3: | Chané |
| Glotto: | tere1279 |
| Glottorefname: | Terena-Kinikinao-Chane |
| Region: | Mato Grosso do Sul |
| Elp2: | 509 |
| Elpname2: | Guana (Brazil) |
Terêna or Etelena is spoken by 15,000 Brazilians. The language has a dictionary and written grammar.[1] Many Terena people have low Portuguese proficiency. It is spoken in Mato Grosso do Sul. About 20% are literate in their language, 80% literate in Portuguese.
Terêna has an active–stative syntax[2] and verb-object-subject as default word order.[3]
Terêna had four varieties: Kinikinao, Terena proper, Guaná, and Chané. These varieties have sometimes been considered to be separate languages.[4] Carvalho (2016) has since demonstrated all four to be the same language.[5] Only Terena proper is still spoken.
Terena originated in the Northwestern Chaco.[6] As a result, many Northern Guaicuruan loanwords can be found in Terena.[7]
There are also many Tupi-Guarani loanwords in Terena and other southern Arawakan languages.[8]
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||||
| Tap | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | |||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | |
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Low | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ |