Wayampi language

Wayãpi
Wayampi
Region	French Guiana, Brazil
Ethnicity	Wayãpi
Native speakers	1,200 (2000)[1]
Language family	Tupian Tupi–Guaraní Northern Wayãpi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	oym
Glottolog	waya1270
ELP	Wayampí

Wayãpi or Wayampi (Waiãpi, Guayapi, Oiampí) is a Tupi–Guarani language spoken by the Wayãpi people. It is spoken in French Guiana and Brazil.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes^[2]

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				plain	lab.
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Plosive	p	t		k	kʷ	ʔ
Fricative		s				h
Lateral		l
Approximant	w		j

Vowels

Vowel phonemes^[3]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ		ɯ ɯ̃	u ũ
Mid	e ẽ		o õ
Open		a ã

In closed syllables, /e, o/ are heard as [ɛ, ɔ].^[4]

Orthography

Wayãpi is spelt phonetically based on the International Phonetic Alphabet, and not according the French orthography.^[5] The spelling uses the letter ɨ for the close central unrounded vowel between i and u.^[6] E is always pronounced é, vowels with a tilde are always nasal (ã, ẽ, ĩ, õ, ũ), ö is like the German O umlaut, and b is pronounced mb. All letters are pronounced.^[6]

References

1. Wayãpi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Copin (2012), p. 409
3. Copin (2012), p. 412
4. Copin (2012)
5. Grenand & Grenand (2017), p. 18
6. Grenand & Grenand (2017), p. 20

Bibliography

• Copin, François (2012), Grammaire wayampi (famille tupi-guarani), Université de Paris
• Grenand, Pierre; Grenand, Françoise Grenand (2017). "Pour une histoire de la cartographie des territoires teko et wayãpi (Commune de Camopi, Guyane française)". Revue d’ethnoécologie (in French) (11). doi:10.4000/ethnoecologie.3007. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

External links

• Wayampi (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)