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Sanumá
Kohoroxitari
Sanöma
Pronunciation	[ˈsɑnɨmɑ]
Native to	Venezuela,Brazil
Ethnicity	Sanumá
Native speakers	(5,100 cited 2000–2006)[1]
Language family	Yanomaman Sanumá
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xsu
Glottolog	sanu1240
ELP	Sanumá
Yanomaman languages location   Yanomamö   Ninam   Yanomám   Sanumá   Ỹaroamë

Sanöma/ˈsænʊmə/^[2] orSanumá is aYanomaman language spoken inVenezuela andBrazil. It is also known asSanema, Sanima, Tsanuma, Guaika, Samatari, Samatali, Xamatari andChirichano. Most of its speakers in Venezuela also speakYe'kuana, also known as Maquiritare, the language of theYe'kuana people the Sanumá live alongside in theCaura River basin.

Throughout the centuries, theYanomami, originally from the Parima range, have spread up toward river valleys on the plains both to the south inBrazil, and to the north inVenezuela. The Sanumá speak one of the four knownYanomami languages. It is in the rainforests of northBrazil and southVenezuela 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.^[3]

Some linguists identify dialects such asYanoma, Cobari, Caura, andErvato-Ventuari in Venezuela andAuaris in Brazil. All the dialects are mutually intelligible. In Venezuela, Sanumá is spoken in the vicinity of theCaura andErvato-Ventuari Rivers in Venezuela, while in Brazil, it is spoken in theAuari River region ofRoraima.

There are three dialects spoken inRoraima, Brazil:^[4]

• Awaris (2,955 speakers)
• Aracaçá (29 speakers)
• Hokomawä (180 speakers)

• The sound [j] has limited distribution as a phoneme.
• /k/ can be heard as [ɣ] and /t/ can be heard as a flap [ɾ], in intervocalic positions.
• /k/ becomes palatalized as [kʲ] when preceding /i/.
• /s/ becomes palatalized as [ʃ] when preceding /i/. In initial positions, /s/ can be heard as an affricate [ts], or as [tʃ] when palatalized, preceding /i/.
• /l/  becomes palatalized as [ʎ] when preceding sounds /i, e/.

• /a/ may be heard as [ʌ] after sounds [m, l, j].
• /o/ may be heard as [ɔ] in free variation.
• /e/ may be heard as [ɛ] after when a consonant is palatalized.^[5]

• 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)

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