Sanöma Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh or Sanumá is a Yanomaman language spoken in Venezuela and Brazil. It is also known as Sanema, Sanima, Tsanuma, Samatari, Samatali, Xamatari and Chirichano.
Most of its speakers in Venezuela also speak Ye'kuana, also known as Maquiritare, the language of the Ye'kuana people the Sanumá live alongside in the Caura River basin.
History Throughout the centuries, the Yanomami, originally from the Parima range, have spread up toward river valleys on the plains both to the south in Brazil, and to the north in Venezuela. The Sanumá speak one of the four known Yanomami languages. It is in the rainforests of north Brazil and south Venezuela that the groups have lived undisturbed until recently. In the last 40 years or so, the western world has been knocking at their doorsteps wanting lumber and gold.
Dialects There are three dialects spoken in Roraima, Brazil:Ferreira, Helder Perri; Machado, Ana Maria Antunes; Senra, Estevão Benfica. 2019. As línguas Yanomami no Brasil: diversidade e vitalidade. São Paulo: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN). 216pp. Awaris (2,955 speakers) Aracaçá (29 speakers) Hokomawä (180 speakers)
Phonology +ConsonantsLabialAlveolarDorsalGlottalPlosiveplainaspirated NasalFricativeLateralApproximant Voiceless plosives are in free variation with their voiced counterparts ; /t/ is also in free variation with [ɾ]. [j] has limited distribution. /k/ becomes [ɣ] between vowels. /k/ becomes palatalized to [kʲ] when preceding /i/, as does /s/ to [ʃ] when preceding /i/, though there is an exception in 'songthrush'. In initial positions, /s/ can be heard as an affricate [ts], or as [tʃ] when palatalized, preceding /i/. /l/ becomes palatalized to [ʎ] when preceding /i, e/. +VowelsFrontCentralBackClose Mid Open /a/ has an allophone of [ʌ] after [m, l, j]. /o/ is in free variation with [ɔ]. /e/ is realized as [ɛ] after a palatalized consonant.
Syntax
Word order In Sanöma, the subject is placed before the verb or predicate in subordinate and independent clauses.
References
Further reading Alcida Ramos, Sanuma Memories: Yanomami Ethnography in Times of Crisis (University of Wisconsin Press, 1995) Bruce Parry, Tribe: Adventures in a Changing World (Michael Joseph Ltd, 2007)