Wichí Lhamtés Nocten

Wichí Lhamtés Nocten, or Weenhayek, is a Wichí language primarily spoken in Bolivia, where an estimated 1,810 Wichí people spoke it in 1994. An additional one hundred people spoke the language in Argentina in 1994. In Bolivia, the language is spoken in the north-central Tarija Department, southwest of Pilcomayo River, and in Cordillera de Pirapo. In Argentina, it is spoken in from the northern border south to Tartagal, Salta. The language is also called Mataco, Bolivian, Mataco Nocten, Nocten, Noctenes, Oktenai, and Weenhayek; the last name is used in the Bolivian constitution of 2009.

Phonology

Consonants in the Nocten dialect

		Labial	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar			Uvular	Glottal
			central	lateral		plain	labial	pal.
Plosive		Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink				Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPA link	Template:IPAlink
Affricate			Template:IPAlink
Fricative			Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink			Template:IPAlink
Nasal	voiced	Template:IPAlink	Template:IPAlink
	voiceless	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Lateral	voiced			Template:IPAlink
	fricative			Template:IPAlink
Approximant	voiced				Template:IPAlink		Template:IPAlink
	voiceless				Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link

• /kʲ/ may be heard as an affricate sound [tʃ] in some dialects.
• Sounds /p, t, kʲ, kʷ, q, ts/ may also be heard as aspirated [pʰ, tʰ, kʲʰ, kʷʰ, qʰ, tsʰ] when preceding /h/, or as glottalized [pʼ, tʼ, kʲʼ, kʷʼ, qʼ, tsʼ] when preceding /ʔ/.
• Sounds /m, n, l, j, w/ within the position of /ʔ/ are also glottalized as [ʼm, ʼn, ʼl, ʼj, ʼw].

Vowels in the Nocten dialect

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

See also

• Wichí Lhamtés Vejoz
• Wichí Lhamtés Güisnay

Notes

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