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Itonama language

In the modern world, Itonama language has taken a fundamental role in our lives. Since its discovery or appearance, Itonama language has had a significant impact on society, culture, economy and technology. Its influence has spread globally, affecting all people directly or indirectly. In this article, we will explore the role of Itonama language in different aspects of everyday life and its importance in today's world. From its origin to its current impact, Itonama language has left an indelible mark on history and remains a relevant topic today.

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Itonama
sihni pandara
Native toBolivia
RegionBeni Department
Ethnicity2,900 Itonama people (2006)[1]
Extinct2012–2023[1][2]
Latin
Official status
Official language in
 Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3ito
Glottologiton1250
ELPItonama
Itonama is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
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Itonama (Itonama: sihnipadara[2]) is a language isolate once spoken by the Itonama people in the Amazonian lowlands of north-eastern Bolivia. It was spoken on the Itonomas River and Lake[3] in Beni Department.

In Magdalena town on the western bank of the Itonama River (a tributary of the Iténez River), located in Iténez Province, only a few elderly people remember a few words and phrases.[4]: 483 

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Nambikwaran languages due to contact.[5]

An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)[6] found lexical similarities between Itonama and Movima, likely due to contact.

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i ɨ ⟨ï⟩ u
Mid e ~ ɛ ⟨e⟩ o
Low a ⟨a⟩

Diphthongs are /ai au/ ⟨ay aw⟩.

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Post-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive/
Affricate 		plain p t tʃ ~ ts ⟨ch⟩ tʲ ⟨ty⟩ k ⟨k⟩ ʔ ⟨’⟩
ejective tʼ tʃʼ ~ tsʼ ⟨chʼ⟩ kʼ ⟨kʼ⟩
voiced b d
Fricative s h
Liquid lateral l
rhotic ɾ ⟨r⟩
Semivowel w ~ β ⟨w⟩ j ⟨y⟩

The postalveolar affricates /tʃ tʃʼ/ have alveolar allophones . Variation occurs between speakers, and even within the speech of a single person.

The semivowel /w/ is realized as a bilabial fricative [β] when preceded and followed by identical vowels.[2]

Morphology

Itonama is a polysynthetic, head-marking, verb-initial language with an accusative alignment system along with an inverse subsystem in independent clauses, and straightforward accusative alignment in dependent clauses.

Nominal morphology lacks case declension and adpositions and so is simpler than verbal morphology (which has body-part and location incorporation, directionals, evidentials, verbal classifiers, among others).[7]

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Itonama.[3] They are shown here alongside the forms cited in the Intercontinental Dictionary Series (IDS),[8] which takes its data from Camp and Liccardi (1967).

gloss Itonama (Loukotka) Itonama (IDS)
one chash-káni u-kʼaʔne
two chash-chupa -tʃupa
tooth huomóte oh-womotʼe
tongue páchosníla oh-potʃosnila
hand mapára uh-maʔpara
woman ubíka wabɨʔka
water huanúhue wanuʔwe
fire ubári u-bari
moon chakakáshka u-ʔtʲahka-ʔkaʔka
maize udáme u-tʃuʔu, kanasbɨstʃa
jaguar ótgu
house úku u-ku

See also

Further reading

  • Camp, E. L.; Liccardi, M. R. (1967). Itonama, castellano e inglés. (Vocabularios Bolivianos, 6.) Riberalta: Summer Institute of Linguistics.

References

  1. ^ a b Itonama at Ethnologue (28th ed., 2025) Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b c Crevels, Mily (2023-01-30), Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev (eds.), "11 Itonama", Volume 1 Language Isolates I: Aikanã to Kandozi-Shapra: An International Handbook, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 483–546, doi:10.1515/9783110419405-011, ISBN 978-3-11-041940-5, retrieved 2025-10-20
  3. ^ a b Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  4. ^ Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev, eds. (2023). Amazonian Languages: Language Isolates. Volume I: Aikanã to Kandozi-Chapra. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-041940-5.
  5. ^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
  6. ^ Müller, André, Viveka Velupillai, Søren Wichmann, Cecil H. Brown, Eric W. Holman, Sebastian Sauppe, Pamela Brown, Harald Hammarström, Oleg Belyaev, Johann-Mattis List, Dik Bakker, Dmitri Egorov, Matthias Urban, Robert Mailhammer, Matthew S. Dryer, Evgenia Korovina, David Beck, Helen Geyer, Pattie Epps, Anthony Grant, and Pilar Valenzuela. 2013. ASJP World Language Trees of Lexical Similarity: Version 4 (October 2013).
  7. ^ Crevels, M. Who did what to whom in Magdalena. p. 3.
  8. ^ Key, Mary Ritchie (2023). Key, Mary Ritchie; Comrie, Bernard (eds.). "Itonama dictionary". Intercontinental Dictionary Series. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
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