Bésɨro

Bésɨro
Lomeriano
Bésɨro
Pronunciation[ˈbesɨro]
Native toBolivia
EthnicityChiquitano
Native speakers
<2,400 (2012)
Latin script
Official status
Official language in
 Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3cax
Glottologchiq1248
ELPChiquitano

Bésɨro (Lomeriano) is a variety of Chiquitano spoken by less than 2,400 Chiquitano people and a Macro-Jê language. It is one of the 37 official languages of Bolivia.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive p t̪ t t͡ʃ k ʔ
Fricative β s ʃ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Sonorant w r j

Vowels

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Close-mid e o
Open a

Nasal assimilation

Bésɨro has regressive assimilation triggered by nasal nuclei / ɨ̃ ĩ ũ õ ã ẽ/ and targeting consonant onsets within a morpheme.

Syllable structure

The language has CV, CVV, and CVC syllables. It does not allow complex onsets or codas. The only codas allowed are nasal consonants.

Orthography

Bésɨro is written using the Latin script. The current official standardized alphabet of Bésɨro is presented below:

Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)
AAABCHEEEIII ƗƗƗJKMNÑOOOPRSTTYU UUXXHY'
Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)
aaabcheeeiii ɨɨɨjkmnño ooprsttyuuux xhy'
Name of letters
AAaBeCheEEe IIiIIiJotaKeMeNeÑeOOoPeReSeTe TyaUUuXaXhaYeGlotal

References

  1. 1 2 Nikulin, Andrey (2020). Proto-Macro-Jê: um estudo reconstrutivo (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Brasília.
  2. ↑ Nikulin, Andrey (2023-12-01). "Lexical evidence for the Macro-Jê–Tupian hypothesis / Лексические свидетельства в пользу макро-же–тупийской гипотезы". Journal of Language Relationship. 21 (1–2): 1–56. doi:10.31826/jlr-2023-211-206. ISSN 2219-4029.
  3. 1 2 Krüsi, Dorothee; Krüsi, Martin (1978). Phonology of Chiquitano (PDF). Work Papers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Riberalta, Bolivia: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
  4. ↑ Sans, Pierric (2011), Proceedings of the VII Encontro Macro-Jê.Brasilia, Brazil
  5. ↑ Instituto deLengua y Cultura Kabineña; Instituto Plurinacional de Estudio de Lenguas y Cultura (2015). Cartilla de alfabeto besiro para el aprendizaje básico. Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Imprenta Stigma.