Tucanoan languages

Tucanoan, which is spoken in two compact areas in the western Amazon region (Brazil, Colombia, and Peru), includes about 30 languages with a total of over 30,000 speakers. One of the languages is a lingua franca in the region.

A dialect of Tucano (Tucanoan) exhibits three contrasting points of articulation, while Chipaya (Macro-Mayan) has nine. Many types of contrasting sounds occur although not with equal frequency. Voiceless stops (e.g., p, t, k) occur everywhere, but voiced stops (e.g., b, d, g) may be absent, and fricatives (e.g.,…

…case like that of the Tucano language, which is used as a lingua franca in the Río Vaupés area among an Indian population belonging to some 20 different linguistic groups, may be independent of those conditions. Quechua, originally spoken in small areas around Cuzco and in central Peru, expanded much…