Akwáwa language

Akwáwa is a Tupi–Guarani dialect cluster spoken in Pará in western Brazil.

Akwáwa
Native to	Brazil
Region	Pará
Ethnicity	Suruí do Pará, Asuriní, Parakanã
Native speakers	1,500 (2012)
Language family	Tupian Tupí–Guaraní Group IV Akwáwa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: asu – Asuriní mdz – Suruí pak – Parakanã
Glottolog	tupi1284

Dialects

There are three distinct dialects:

• Asuriní (of Tocantins or Trocará), or Akwawa
• Suruí (of Tocantins or Pará), or Akewara
• Parakanã, Awaeté

Both the name Asuriní and Suruí are used for related peoples and their languages: Suruí of Jiparaná, Suruí of Rondônia, Asuriní of Xingú, etc.

Phonology

The following is the Parakanã dialect:

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ
Mid	e		o
Open		a

• Vowel sounds are realized as nasalized when preceding nasal consonants.
• /e/ can also be heard as [ɛ] when in stressed position.
• /ɨ/ can also be heard as [ə] when preceding a vowel.
• /a/ can be heard as back [ʌ] when in word-final position. In its nasal form, it is heard as back [ʌ̃].
• /o/ can be heard as [u] when in unstressed position.

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				plain	lab.
Plosive	p	t	tʃ	k	kʷ	ʔ
Fricative	β					h
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Tap		ɾ

• /β/ can also be heard as a glide [w].
• /tʃ/ can be realized as a glide [j] in final position, and as voiced [dʒ] in intervocalic positions.