| Siona | |
| Nativename: | Gantëya coca |
| States: | Colombia, Ecuador |
| Region: | Putumayo River |
| Ethnicity: | Siona people, Teteté people |
| Speakers: | 500 |
| Date: | 2000–2008 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Fam1: | Tucanoan |
| Fam2: | Western |
| Fam3: | Napo |
| Fam4: | Siona–Secoya |
| Lc1: | snn |
| Ld1: | Siona |
| Lc2: | teb |
| Ld2: | Teteté |
| Glotto: | sion1247 |
| Glottorefname: | Siona-Tetete |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Map: | Siona.png |
Siona (otherwise known as Bain Coca, Pioje, Pioche-Sioni, Ganteyabain, Ganteya, Ceona, Zeona, Koka, Kanú) is a Tucanoan language of Colombia and Ecuador. The language is essentially the same as Secoya, but speakers are ethnically distinct.
As of 2013, Siona is spoken by about 550 people.[1] Teteté dialect (Eteteguaje) is extinct.[2]
There are 6 oral vowels and six nasal vowels. Only nasal vowels occur next to a nasal consonant pronounced as //m// or pronounced as //n//.
| Back | Central | Front | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | 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/ | ||
| Low | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ |
There are two series of obstruent consonant. Both often produce a noticeable delay before the onset of the following vowel: the 'fortis' series (written p t č k kw s h hw) tends to be aspirated, with a noisy transition to the vowel, while the 'lenis' series (written b d g gw ’ z), optionally voiced, is glottalized, with a silent transition to the vowel, which in turn tends to be laryngealized. The glottal stop is faint, and noticeable primarily in the laryngealizing effect it has on adjacent vowels.
| bilabial | alveolar | prepalatal | velar | labio-velar | glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | 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/ ~ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ ; pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ ; pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Semivowel | pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
pronounced as //ʈˀ// is realized as pronounced as /link/ between vowels. pronounced as //j// is realized as pronounced as /link/ next to nasal vowels.
Stress is obligatory on all verb stems, root words, and some suffixes. It disappears when the syllable is not the nucleus of a phonological word. Some monosyllabic morphemes have both stressed and unstressed forms. Although the position of stress within a word is not contrastive, vocalic and consonantal allophony depends on whether a syllable is stressed. Initial stressed vowels followed by unstressed vowels are long and have a falling tone.