Shiwiar language

Not to be confused with Shuar language from Ecuador.

Shiwiar, also known as Jivaro and Maina, is a Chicham language spoken along the Pastaza and Bobonaza rivers in Ecuador. Shiwiar is one of the thirteen indigenous languages of Ecuador.^[2] All of these indigenous languages are endangered.^[2]

Shiwiar
Shiwiar
Native to	Peru, Ecuador
Ethnicity	Achuar people, Shiwiar
Native speakers	4,420 in Peru (2012)[1] 3,520 in Ecuador (2007)[1]
Language family	Chicham Shiwiar
Dialects	Shiwiar Achuar
Language codes
ISO 639-3	acu
Glottolog	achu1248
ELP	Achuar
Shiwiar is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Speakers

Shiwiar is a language spoken by the Achuar people of the Amazonian region of Ecuador.^[3] The Achuar people also speak Spanish, Shuar, and Kichwa along with their native language, Shiwiar.^[3] Shuar belongs to the same language family as Shiwiar – Jivaroan.^[3]

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.^[4]

While Ecuador's official language is Spanish, 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).^[5]

Phonology

Consonant phonemes^[6]

	Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Postalveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p	t		k
Affricate		ts	tʃ
Fricative		s	ʃ		h
Approximant	w		j
Tap		ɾ

• /t, n/ are phonetically dental as [t̪, n̪].
• Voiceless stops and affricates are usually voiced when they occur after a nasal sound.
• When /h/ is preceded by a front-high vowel, it is then realized as a palatal fricative [ç].
  • For some speakers, /h/ can be realized as a voiceless velar fricative [x].
• When /w/ is followed by a front-high vowel, it is then realized as a labio-dental approximant [ʋ] or a bilabial approximant [β̞].^[7]

Vowel phonemes^[8]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ	ɨ ɨ̃	u ũ
Open		a ã

• /a, ɨ/ often get realized as [ɐ, ə] when in unnaccented syllables.
• If a low vowel is immediately preceded or followed by a high front vowel, or preceded by a palatalized consonant for example, /a/ is sometimes realized as a mid-low [ɛ] or mid front vowel [e̞].
• In the vicinity of a labio-velar approximant /w/, low vowels /a, ã/ are often realized as mid-low back unrounded vowels [ʌ, ʌ̃], whereas high central vowels /ɨ, ɨ̃/ are often realized as high-mid back unrounded vowels [ɤ, ɤ̃].
• /ɨ/ may also be heard as a high back vowel [ɯ] when preceding labial sounds /p, m/.^[9]