Shipibo language

Not to be confused with Juruá Kapanawa language.

Shipibo (also Shipibo-Conibo, Shipibo-Konibo) is a Panoan language spoken in Peru and Brazil by approximately 26,000 speakers. Shipibo is a recognized indigenous language of Peru.

Shipibo-Conibo
Shipibo
Native to	Peru
Region	Ucayali Region
Ethnicity	Shipibo-Conibo people
Native speakers	26,000 (2003)[1]
Language family	Panoan Mainline Panoan Nawa Chama Shipibo-Conibo
Dialects	Shipibo–Konibo Kapanawa ?Xipináwa †
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: shp – Shipibo-Conibo kaq – Tapiche Capanahua xip – Xipináwa (retired)
Glottolog	ship1253

Dialects

A Shipibo jar

Shipibo has three attested dialects:

• Shipibo and Konibo (Conibo), which have merged
• Kapanawa of the Tapiche River,^[2] which is obsolescent

Extinct Xipináwa (Shipinawa) is thought to have been a dialect as well,^[3] but there is no linguistic data.

Phonology

Vowels

Monophthongs of Shipibo, from Valenzuela, Márquez Pinedo & Maddieson (2001:282)

Monophthong phonemes^[4]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ ⟨i⟩		ɯ ɯ̃ ⟨e⟩
Mid			o õ ⟨o⟩
Open		a ã ⟨a⟩

• /i/ and /o/ are lower than their cardinal counterparts (in addition to being more front in the latter case): [i̞], [o̽], /ɯ/ is more front than cardinal [ɯ]: [ɯ̟], whereas /a/ is more close and more central [ɐ] than cardinal [a]. The first three vowels tend to be somewhat more central in closed syllables, whereas /ɯ/ before coronal consonants (especially /n, t, s/) can be as central as [ɨ].^[5]
• In connected speech, two adjacent vowels may be realized as a rising diphthong.^[6]

Nasal

• The oral vowels /i, ɯ, o, a/ are phonetically nasalized [ĩ, ɯ̃, õ, ã] after a nasal consonant, but the phonological behaviour of these allophones is different from the nasal vowel phonemes /ĩ, ɯ̃, õ, ã/.^[4]
• Oral vowels in syllables preceding syllables with nasal vowels are realized as nasal, but not when a consonant other than /w, j/ intervenes.^[6]

Unstressed

• The second one of the two adjacent unstressed vowels is often deleted.^[6]
• Unstressed vowels may be devoiced or even elided between two voiceless obstruents.^[6]

Consonants

Consonant phonemes^[7]

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palato- alveolar	Dorsal	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩
Plosive		p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩			k ⟨c/qu⟩
Affricate			ts ⟨ts⟩		tʃ ⟨ch⟩
Fricative	voiceless		s ⟨s⟩	ʂ ⟨s̈h⟩	ʃ ⟨sh⟩		h ⟨j⟩
	voiced	β ⟨b⟩
Approximant		w ⟨hu⟩		ɻ ⟨r⟩	j ⟨y⟩

• /m, p, β/ are bilabial, whereas /w/ is labialized velar.
  • /β/ is most typically a fricative [β], but other realizations (such as an approximant [β̞], a stop [b] and an affricate [bβ]) also appear. The stop realization is most likely to appear in word-initial stressed syllables, whereas the approximant realization appears most often as onsets to non-initial unstressed syllables.^[4]
• /n, ts, s/ are alveolar [n, ts, s], whereas /t/ is dental [t̪].^[7]
• The /ʂ–ʃ/ distinction can be described as an apical–laminal one.^[4]
• /k/ is velar, whereas /j/ is palatal.^[7]
• Before nasal vowels, /w, j/ are nasalized [w̃, j̃] and may be even realized close to nasal stops [ŋʷ, ɲ].^[6]
• /w/ is realized as [w] before /a, ã/, as [ɥ] before /i, ĩ/ and as [ɰ] before /ɯ, ɯ̃/. It does not occur before /o, õ/.^[6]
• /ɻ/ is a very variable sound:
  • Intervocalically, it is realized either as continuant, with or without weak frication ([ɻ] or [ʐ]).^[4]
  • Sometimes (especially in the beginning of a stressed syllable) it can be realized as a postalveolar affricate [d̠͡z̠], or a stop-approximant sequence [d̠ɹ̠].^[6]
  • It can also be realized as a postalveolar flap [ɾ̠].^[4]