Pai Tavytera language

Pãi Tavyterã is a Guarani language spoken by about 600 Pai Tavytera people in eastern Paraguay, in Amambay, eastern Concepción, eastern San Pedro, and northern Canindeyú Departments. The language has 70% lexical similarity with the Kaiwá language, spoken in Brazil. Among Pai Tavyetera people, language use is shifting towards Guaraní.^[1]

Pãi Tavyterã
Ava, Pãi, Tavyterã
Native to	Paraguay
Ethnicity	8,030 Pai Tavytera people (2007)[1]
Native speakers	600 (2007)[1]
Language family	Tupian Tupí–Guaraní Guaraní (I) Kaiwá Pãi Tavyterã
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pta
Glottolog	pait1247

The language is written in the Latin script.^[2]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ	ɨ ɨ̃	u ũ
Close-mid	e ẽ		o õ
Open	a ã

• Six shortened vowels both oral and nasal are heard as /ĭ ɨ̆ ŭ/ and /ĩ̆ ɨ̃̆ ũ̆/.

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k	ʔ
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Fricative			s	ʃ	ʝ		h
Rhotic			ɾ
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	(ŋ)
Approximant		ʋ	l			w

• /ʝ/ can also be heard as an affricate [ɟʝ].
• /b d ʝ ɡ/ may also be prenasalized as [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᶮʝ, ᵑɡ].
• /n/ is heard as [ŋ] before velar consonants.^[3]