User:Maradeleonm/Ecuadorian Siona

Ecuadorian Siona (also known as Baicoca) is a spoken language by the Siona people of Ecuador, and can be considered a dialect variety of a larger Baicoca-Siecoca, or Siona-Secoya, language cluster. Ecuadorian Siona is part of the Western Tukanoan language family.

Ecuadorian Siona is closely related to Secoya and Colombian Siona (see Siona language); the three represent a language cluster spoken near the borders of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The variety spoken in Ecuador differs from the one spoken in Colombia with regard to some lexical, morphological, and phonological characteristics. Some properties of Ecuadorian Siona are actually closer to Secoya. The three varieties show a high level of mutual intelligibility. Bruil views them as three different varieties of the same Siona-Secoya dialect continuum, with Ecuadorian Siona in the middle.

The Ecuadorian variety is spoken in the Eastern jungle area of Ecuador in the Sucumbíos province. Ecuadorian Siona people mostly reside in six villages: Puerto Bolívar and Tarabëaya are located on the Cuyabeno river, and Sototsiaya, Orahuëaya, Aboquëhuira and Bi'aña on the Aguarico River.

Today, Ecuadorian Siona is spoken by less than 250 people and is considered an endangered language. The influence and spread of the dominant Spanish culture and language brought detrimental consequences for the indigenous ways of living and language.

Status of Pre-aspiration

Article Draft
=== Lead: (also known as Baicoca) is spoken by the Siona people of Ecuador, and can be considered a dialect or variety of a larger Baicoca-Siecoca, or Siona-Secoya, language cluster. Ecuadorian Siona belongs to the Western Tukanoan language family. (Cite this) ===

Article body
Ecuadorian Siona (also known as Baicoca) is a spoken language by the Siona people of Ecuador, and can be considered a dialect or variety of a larger Baicoca-Siecoca, or Siona-Secoya, language cluster.

In the Eastern jungle region of Ecuador lies the Sucumbios Province. In this province there are 6 villages in which Ecuadorian Sinoa people reside. The 6 villages are: Puerto Bolivar, Tarabëaya, Sototsiaya, Orahuëaya, Aboquëhuira and Bi’aña.

They refer to themselves as bai, meaning "people" and refer to their language as baicoca which means "the language of the people." There is said to be only about 250 speakers of this language making it endangered. This is due to the small population of Ecuadorian Siona people and the failure to preserve and pass the language on to the next generation. There are differences amongst the different villages and the presence of Ecuadorian Sinoa. Children in the Puerto Bolívar village are taught Spanish at home and very few are taught the Sinoa language. The children of the Sotosiaya village grow up with Sinoa as their first language until they go to school where they are instructed in Spanish. However, the village that is in more danger of losing this language is the Tarabëaya village. In this village, the only speakers of Siona are those who are over the age of 50.

Morphology
The Nominal Morphology of Ecuadorian Siona

'''Consonants: The Siona phonemic consists of 18 consonants and contains two phonemic nasal consonants /m, n/. In addition, in nasal spreading events, the nasal consonants [h͂, w͂ , ɲ] also appear in Siona.'''

Nominal Classifiers
In Ecuadorian Siona, the classifiers can be used along side nouns, numerals, demonstratives, adjectives, and verbs.When using classifiers on numerals, demonstratives, adjectives, and verbs, they are allowing the modifier to agree with the head of the noun phrase.