Wounaan language

Wounaan
Noanamá
Woun Meu
Native toColombia, Panama
EthnicityEmbera-Wounaan
Native speakers
10,800 (2007)
Chocoan
  • Wounaan
Language codes
ISO 639-3noa
Glottologwoun1238
ELPWaunana
Linguasphere81-EIA-b

The Wounaan language, also known as Noanamá and Woun Meu, is a Chocoan language, with around 10,000 speakers on the border between Panama and Colombia.

Phonology

The following tables show the vowel and consonant phonemes of Wounaan, transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Vowels

Vowels
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
Closeoral i ɯ u
nasal ĩ ɯ̃ ũ
Close-midoral e ɤ o
nasal ẽ ɤ̃ õ
Openoral a
nasal ã

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless p t k ʔ
aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ
voiced b d g
Affricate
Fricative s ɕ h
Nasal m n
Approximant l j w
Trill r
Flap ɾ

Notes

  1. ↑ Wounaan at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Mejía 2000.
  3. ↑ Murillo Miranda & Marín Esquivel 2022, pp. 17–39.

References