Catío Emberá (Catío, Katío) is an indigenous American language spoken by the Embera people of Colombia and Panama.[2]

Catío
Emberá-Catío
Native toColombia, Panama
Native speakers
(15,000 cited 1992)[1]
Chocoan
Language codes
ISO 639-3cto
Glottologembe1260
ELPEmberá-Catío

The language was spoken by 15,000 people in Colombia, and a few dozen in Panama, according to data published in 1992.[2] 90 to 95% of the speakers are monolingual with a 1% literacy rate.[2] The language is also known as Eyabida, and like most Embera languages goes by the name Embena 'human'.[2]

Writing system

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Catio is written with the Latin script.[3]

Vowels
a ã e i ĩ o õ u ũ ʉ ʉ̃
Consonants
m k b p t ch s z g j r rr d n y w ñ

Phonology

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Consonants

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Consonants[4]
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive/
Affricate
aspirated t͡ʃʰ
ejective t͡ʃʼ
voiced b d d͡ʒ
Fricative aspirated h
ejective
Nasal m n
Rhotic trill r
tap ɾ
Semivowel w

Vowels

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Vowels[4]
Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
High i ĩ ɯ ɯ̃ u ũ
Mid e o õ
Low a ã

Notes

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  1. ^ Catío at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c d Catio language at Ethnologue (12th ed., 1992).
  3. ^ Silva Vallejo & Majore 2018, p. 77-78.
  4. ^ a b Mortensen, Charles Arthur (1994). Nasalization in a revision of Embera-Katio phonology (MA thesis). Arlington: University of Texas.

Bibliography

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