Minica Huitoto language

Minica (Mɨnɨka) Huitoto is one of three indigenous American Huitoto languages of the Witotoan family spoken by a few thousand speakers in western South America.^[1]

Minica Huitoto
Mɨnɨka
Native to	Colombia, Perú
Native speakers	1,500 (2008)[1]
Language family	Bora–Witoto Witoto–Ocaina Witoto Minica–Murui Minica Huitoto
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hto
Glottolog	mini1256
ELP	Minica Huitoto

It is spoken in the Upper Igara-Paraná river area, along the Caquetá River at the Isla de los Monos, and the Caguán River near San Vicente del Caguán. There is 75% literacy in Colombia and 85% are literate in Spanish; most are bilingual. There is a dictionary and grammar rules.^[1]

There are only five speakers in Perú, where it has official standing within its community.^[1]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		ɯ	u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	ɡ
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Fricative	voiceless	ɸ	θ		x
	voiced	β
Tap			ɾ

• Stops /b, d, ɡ/ may also be prenasalized as [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᵑɡ] in word-initial position.
• Labial consonants /b, ɸ, m/ may also be heard as labialized [bʷ, ɸʷ, mʷ] before the back-close vowel /ɯ/.^[2]

Writing system

Minica Huitoto alphabet^[3]

a

b

c

ch

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

ll

m

n

ñ

ng

o

p

q

r

t

u

v

ɨ

z

Notes

1. Minica Huitoto at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Ávila, Youlín (2018). Las vocales en sílabas CV orales acentuadas del mɨnɨka hablado en Bogotá: una descripción fonética acústica. Bogotá, Colombia: Instituto Caro y Cuervo. pp. 16–17.
3. "Vocabulario bilingüe: huitoto-español, español-huitoto (dialecto mɨnɨca)". SIL International. 24 January 2013.