Shiwiar, also known as ''Achuar'', ''Jivaro'' and ''Maina'', is a
Chicham language spoken along the Pastaza and Bobonaza rivers in
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
. Shiwiar is one of the thirteen indigenous languages of Ecuador.
All of these indigenous languages are endangered.
Speakers
Shiwiar is a language spoken by the Achuar people of the Amazonian region of Ecuador.
The Achuar people also speak
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
,
Shuar
The Shuar, also known as Jivaro, are an indigenous ethnic group that inhabits the Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazonia. They are famous for their hunting skills and their tradition of head shrinking, known as Tzantsa.
The Shuar language belongs to ...
, and
Kichwa
Kichwa (, , also Spanish ) is a Quechuan language that includes all Quechua varieties of Ecuador and Colombia ('' Inga''), as well as extensions into Peru. It has an estimated half million speakers.
Classification
Kichwa belongs to the Nor ...
along with their native language, Shiwiar.
Shuar belongs to the same language family as Shiwiar – Jivaroan.
Although the Achuar live in the Amazon Basin, the extracting of oil and raw materials from Ecuador through mining has displaced the Achuar communities and endangered their homes.
While Ecuador's official language is
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas
**Spanish cuisine
**Spanish history
**Spanish culture
...
, the Achuar people along with other indigenous groups have the right to use their own languages in education through the official language policies of Ecuador legalized in Decree No. 000529, Article 27, and the Dirección Nacional de Educación Indígena Intercultural Bilingüe (DINEIIB).
Phonology
* and have slightly lowered
allophones
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plosi ...
and , respectively.
* are phonetically central .
** (but not the long ) have the following allophones: open central unrounded , open-mid front unrounded , close-mid front unrounded and close-mid back rounded .
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
*
New Testament in Achuar*
The Shiwiar Rainforest InitiativeListen to a sample of Achuar-Shiwiar from Global Recordings NetworkOLAC resources in and about Achuar-Shiwiar
{{Authority control
Chicham languages
Languages of Peru
Languages of Ecuador
Indigenous languages of South America
Definitely endangered languages
Endangered languages of South America
Endangered Indigenous languages of the Americas