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.
Dialects
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.
/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]
/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]
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]
Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press.
ISBN0-292-70414-3.
Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.
Loriot, James and Barbara E. Hollenbach. 1970. "Shipibo paragraph structure." Foundations of Language 6: 43–66. (This was the seminal Discourse Analysis paper taught at SIL in 1956–7.)
Loriot, James, Erwin Lauriault, and Dwight Day, compilers. 1993. Diccionario shipibo - castellano. Serie Lingüística Peruana, 31. Lima: Ministerio de Educación and Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. 554 p. (Spanish zip-file available online
http://www.sil.org/americas/peru/show_work.asp?id=928474530143&Lang=eng) This has a complete grammar published in English by SIL only available through SIL.
Valenzuela, Pilar M.; Márquez Pinedo, Luis; Maddieson, Ian (2001),
"Shipibo", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 31 (2): 281–285,
doi:10.1017/S0025100301002109