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.

Minica Huitoto
Mɨnɨka
Native to	Colombia, Peru
Native speakers	1,500 (2008)
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.

There are only five speakers in Peru, where it has official standing within its community.

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/.

Writing system

Minica Huitoto alphabet

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