Zuruahá language
(Redirected from Mndios do Coxodoa language)
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Zuruahá (also called Suruaha, Suruwaha, Suruwahá, Zuruwahã, Zuruaha, Índios do Coxodoá [1]) is an Arawan language spoken in Brazil by about 130 people.
Zuruahá is mentioned in Kaufman (1994) from personal communication from Dan Everett. He made first contact with the community (a 3-day hike from Dení territory in Amazonas state) in 1980. The language had not been studied as of 1994, but seems most similar to Deni.
Phonology
Phoneme inventory
Vowels
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- The vowel /u/ is ambiguous regarding its classification in the system. As in Deni and other languages of the family, it works as if it had an intermediate height between /a/ and /e/. In other words, /u/ is not specified in the terms of the close feature. The asymmetry of the vowel system is also due to the insertion of /i/ in the system. This vowel appears to have been introduced into the system more recently. According to Dixon and Everett, the central vowel was not part of the Proto-Arawá vowel system. In Suruwahá, it has a different behaviour than the other vowels: it is rare in the language of old people; never appears in diphthongs and is the phonetic realization of the neutralisation of the contrast between the other vowels in certain positions.[2]
Consonants
- Suruwahá's alveolar plosive consonants are slightly backed, resembling retroflex consonants.
- The alveolar tap occurs in colloquial speech, but, in careful pronunciation, it is actually pronounced as an alveolar lateral flap.[2]