| Omurano | |
|---|---|
| Mayna | |
| Native to | Peru |
| Ethnicity | Maina |
| Extinct | 2006, with the death of Esteban Macusi[1] <10 rememberers (2013)[2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | omu |
| Glottolog | omur1241 |
Omurano is alanguage isolate fromPeru.[2] It is also known as Humurana, Roamaina, Numurana, Umurano, and Mayna. The language was presumed to have becomeextinct by 1958,[3] but in 2011 arememberer was found who knew some 20 words in Omurano; he claimed that there were still people who could speak it.[1] The community has otherwise switched toUrarina, another language isolate.
It was spoken near the Urituyacu River (a tributary of theMarañón River),[4] or on the Nucuray River according to Loukotka (1968).[5]
Tovar (1961) linked Omurano toTaushiro (and later Taushiro withKandoshi);Kaufman (1994) finds the links reasonable, and in 2007 he classified Omurano and Taushiro (but not Kandoshi) asSaparo–Yawan languages.
Maynas, once mistaken for a synonym, is a separate language.
Despite there being previous proposals linking Omurano withZaparoan, de Carvalho (2013) finds no evidence for this.[4]
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with theUrarina,Arawak,Zaparo, andLeko language families due to contact.[6]
Omurano has 10 consonants. No fricative or velar consonants have been attested.[2]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Alveopalatal | Palatal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| voiceless | voiced | voiceless | voiced | |||
| Stop | p | b | t | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | |||
| Affricate | ʧ | |||||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
| Lateral | l | |||||
| Glide | j | |||||
Omurano has 5 vowel qualities. Nasal vowel counterparts are only present for[i]. Length is not phonemic.[2]
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | nasal | |||
| High | i | ĩ | u | |
| Mid | e | o | ||
| Low | a | |||
Omurano has two surface-level tones, high and low.[2]
A word list by Tessmann (1930) is the primary source for Omurano lexical data.[7]
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[5]
| gloss | Omurana |
|---|---|
| one | nadzóra |
| two | dzoʔóra |
| head | na-neyalok |
| eye | an-atn |
| woman | mparáwan |
| fire | íno |
| sun | héna |
| star | dzuñ |
| maize | aíchia |
| house | ána |
| white | chalama |
