Akwáwa language

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

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

Dialects

There are three distinct dialects: ^[2]

• 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: ^[3]

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
Glide					( w )

• /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.

Notes

1. Asuriní at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
   Suruí at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
   Parakanã at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Cheryl Jensen, 1999, "Tupí-Guaraní", in Dixon & Aikhenvald, The Amazonian Languages
3. Souza e Silva, Auristéa Caetana (1999). Aspectos da referência alternada em Parakanã. Universidade Federal do Pará.