Eperara Epena (Southern Embera) is an
Embera language Embera or Emberá may refer to:
* Emberá people, an ethnic group of Colombia and Panama
* Embera language, a group of languages of Colombia and Panama
* Comarca Emberá, a territory of Panama
See also
* AeroAndina MXP-158 Embera, an aircraft
* H ...
of Colombia, with about 250 speakers in Ecuador.
Geographic Distribution
Epena is spoken on the Pacific coastal rivers of the departments of
Nariño,
Cauca, and
Valle del Cauca in Colombia. A major grouping of the Epena is found in Cauca along the Saija River and three of its major
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...
: the GuangüÃ, InfÃ, and CupÃ. Social contact and intermarriage with the neighboring
Wounaan
The Embera–Wounaan are a semi-nomadic indigenous people in Panama living in Darién Province on the shores of the Chucunaque, Sambú, Tuira Rivers and its waterways. The Embera-Wounaan were formerly and widely known by the name Chocó, and ...
is commonplace.
The Basuradó dialect is spoken on the Basuradó River in the
Department of the Chocó, near the Docampadó River. This is the only Epena dialect that differs significantly from the others.
Orthography
* a -
* ã -
£* b -
* ch -
͡ʃ* d -
* e -
* ẽ -
º½* ë -
™* ë̃ -
™Ìƒ* g -
* i -
* Ä© -
©* ï -
¨(also written as ɨ in some texts)
* ï̃ -
¨Ìƒ* j -
* k -
* k' -
Ê°* m -
* n -
* o -
* õ -
µ* p -
* p' -
Ê°* r -
¾~r* s -
* t -
* t' -
Ê°* u -
* Å© -
©* w -
* y -
Glottal stops
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents th ...
are represented with hyphens.
Long vowels
In linguistics, vowel length is the perceived length of a vowel sound: the corresponding physical measurement is duration. In some languages vowel length is an important phonemic factor, meaning vowel length can change the meaning of the word, f ...
are doubled.
C, f, h, l, ñ, q, v, x, z are used in foreign words and names.
Phonology
Consonants
Vowels
Notes
Bibliography
*Harms, Phillip Lee. 1994. ''Epena Pedee Syntax''. Dallas: Summer Institute of Linguistics and University of Texas at Arlington.
External links
Epena(
Intercontinental Dictionary Series
The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is Bernard Comrie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary An ...
)
Languages of Colombia
Choco languages
{{indigenousAmerican-lang-stub