Cocama language

Cocama (Kokáma) is a language spoken by thousands of people in western South America. It is spoken along the banks of the Northeastern lower Ucayali, lower Marañón, and Huallaga rivers and in neighboring areas of Brazil and an isolated area in Colombia. There are three dialects. The robust dialect is known as Cocama, Kokama, Kukama-Kukamiria, Ucayali, Xibitaoan, Huallaga, Pampadeque, and Pandequebo. By 1999, Cocamilla (Kokamíya) was moribund, being only spoken by people over 40.

Out of a projected ethnic population of 15,000, the majority of Cocama speakers, 2,000, live in Peru. Remaining speakers live in Amazonas state in Brazil, where 50 out of 411 ethnic Chayahuitas speak it and it is known as Kokama or Kokamilla. Most speakers are trilingual and can also speak Portuguese and Spanish. Very few are monolingual. There are 20 ethnic groups in Colombia's Lower Putumayo area with an unknown number of Cocama-Cocamilla speakers. Most expected speakers would also be trilingual, but the language may be extinct in the region.

Cocama speakers have a 3% literacy rate, compared with 50% for Spanish. Grammar rules have been developed and the language is written using the Latin script. Parts of the Bible have been translated into the language.

Cocama is closely related to Omagua, a nearly extinct language spoken in Peru and Brazil.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Fricative				Template:IPA link
Affricate		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Nasal	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Tap/Flap		Template:IPA link
Semivowel	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link

Plosive sounds may also be realized as voiced.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Mid	Template:IPA link
Open		Template:IPA link

Phonetic realisations

Phoneme	Allophones
/p/	[p], [b]
/t/	[t], [d]
/k/	[k], [ɡ], [kʰ]
/ts/	[ts], [s], [tʃ]
/tʃ/	[tʃ], [ʃ]
/n/	[n], [ɲ], [ŋ]
/ɾ/	[ɾ], [l]
/w/	[w], [β]
/j/	[j], [z]
/i/	[i], [ɪ], [e]
/e/	[e], [ə], [ɪ]
/ɨ/	[ɨ], [ɪ]
/u/	[u], [ʊ], [o]

Orthography

Cocama alphabet (Peru)

a	ë	i	ɨ	u	p	t	k	m	n
j	r	ts	ch	sh	w	ÿ	y

Revitalization efforts

In 2013, residents of Nauta, Loreto Province, Peru created a children's rap video in the Kukama-Kukamiria dialect, in collaboration with Radio Ucamara. The local radio station has been involved in efforts to preserve the language for "a few years," and "started managing a school called Ikuar, with the goal of teaching the language through songs and traditional story telling."

References

Sources

• Template:Cite thesis

External links

• OLAC resources in and about the Cocama-Cocamilla language
• OLAC resources in and about the Omagua language
• ELAR archive of The Kukama-Kukamiria Documentation Project