Dʉmʉna (also known as Malayo or Wiwa)
is a
Chibchan language
The Chibchan languages (also known as Chibchano) make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa ...
spoken by the Indigenous
Wiwa people
The Wiwa people, also known as the Damana people, are an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of Colombia that speak the Chibchan languages, Chibchan Wiwa language, Dʉmʉna language and live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta ...
on the southern and eastern slopes of
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...
in northern
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. According to ''
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...
'', it was spoken by 1,850 people in 2007;
however, according to the Colombian Ministry of Culture, there were 13,627 Wiwa people in 2010, of whom some 60% speak Dʉmʉna well.
Phonology
Vowels
There are seven phonemic vowels in Dʉmʉna:
Consonants
Dʉmʉna has 19 phonemic consonants:
References
External links
* Wiwa website page on the language
SpanishDʉmʉna
SIL Language and Culture Archives' list of Dʉmʉna words
Endangered Languages Project profile
{{Chibchan languages
Chibchan languages
Languages of Colombia