Achagua, or Achawa (Achagua: Achawa), is an Arawakan language spoken in the Meta Department of Colombia, similar to Piapoco. It is estimated that 250 individuals speak the language, many of whom also speak Piapoco or Spanish.
"Achagua is a language of the Maipurean Arawakan group traditionally spoken by the Achagua people of Venezuela and east-central Colombia."
A "Ponares" language is inferred from surnames, and may have been Achawa or Piapoco.
There is 1 to 5% literacy in Achagua.
Phonology
Consonants
- /n/ is realized as [ɲ] when preceding palatal consonants.
- /k/ is palatalized [kʲ] when preceding /i/.
- Sounds /b, d/ are preglottalized [ˀb, ˀd] within accented syllables or after accented syllables.
- /b/ is realized as [β] when occurring intervocalically.
- /w/ is realized as [β] when preceding /i/.
- /s̪/ is realized as [ʃ] when preceding /i/.
- /ʝ/ is heard as an affricate [dʒ] in word-initial positions. It can also be realized as a glide [j] freely in intervocalic positions.
- /ɭ/ can be heard as a flap [ɾ] in free variation before /i/.
Vowels
List of words
Notes
External links
- Neira, Alonso de. "Arte y bocabulario de la lengua achagua: Doctrina christiana, confessionario de uno y otro sexo e instrucción de cathecumenos". World Digital Library. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
- Dryer, Matthew S.; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Achawa language". World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- OLAC resources in and about the Achagua language
- Achagua on Native Languages of the Americas
- Listen to a sample of Achagua from Global Recordings Network
- The Archive of Indigenous Languages of Latin America https://www.ailla.utexas.org/islandora/search/Achagua?type=dismax
