Xokleng language

Xokleng
Native to	Brazil
Region	Santa Catarina
Ethnicity	Xokleng
Native speakers	(760 cited 1998)[1]
Language family	Macro-Jê Jê Jê of Paraná Southern Jê Xokleng
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xok
Glottolog	xokl1240
ELP	Xokleng

Xokleng or Laklãnõ is a Southern Jê language (Jê, Macro-Jê) spoken by the Xokleng people of Brazil. It is closely related to Kaingang.

Names

Alternate names are Socré, Chocré, Xocren, Bugre, Botocudo, Aweicoma, Cauuba, Caahans, Caagua, Caaigua.^[2]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ	ɨ ɨ̃	u ũ
Close-mid	e	ə	o
Open-mid	ɛ ɛ̃		ɔ ɔ̃
Open		a ã

• Vowel off-glides may also be present in word-final position.

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
					plain	lab.
Nasal	m ~ ᵐb		n ~ ⁿd	ɲ	ŋ ~ ᵑɡ	ŋʷ ~ ᵑɡʷ
Stop	p		t		k	kʷ	ʔ
Affricate				t͡ʃ
Fricative	v ~ w	ð					h
Approximant				j
Lateral			l

• Nasal sounds /m, n, ŋ, ŋʷ/ are heard as prenasalized voiced-stops [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ, ᵑɡʷ] when preceding oral vowel sounds and heard as nasal sounds [m, n, ŋ, ŋʷ] when preceding nasal vowels, or in nasal positions.
• /v/ can have an allophone of [w] in free variation, and can be heard as a nasal [ɱ] when preceding a nasal vowel or consonant sound.
• /ð/ may have an allophone of [θ] when following /k/, and as [z] in free variation in word-initial positions.
• /j/ is heard with an allophone of [d͡ʒ] when in nasal positions, or when preceding or following other palatal sounds.
• /l/ may be nasalized as [l̃] when in nasal positions.^[3]

References

1. Xokleng at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
3. Gakrán, Nanblá (2015). Elementos Fundamentais da Gramática Laklanõ. Universidade Estadual de Campinas.

External links

• Collections in the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America