Aikanã language


Aikanã is an endangered language isolate spoken by about 200 Aikanã people in Rondônia, Brazil. It is morphologically complex and has SOV word order. Aikanã uses the Latin script. The people live with speakers of Koaia.

Classification

Van der Voort observes similarities among Aikanã, Kanoê, and Kwaza, but believes the evidence is not strong enough to definitively link the three languages together as part of a single language family. Hence, Aikanã is best considered to be a language isolate.
Jolkesky also notes that there are lexical similarities with Kanoe, Kwaza, and Nambikwara due to contact.

Varieties

Varieties listed by Loukotka :
Phonological inventory:

Vowels

FrontCentralBack
Close
Mid
Open

Consonants

LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalm n ñ -
Stopp
b
t
d
k
Fricatives
th
j/h
Affricatests
Trillsr
Approximantw l y

Vocabulary

lists the following basic vocabulary items for Huari and Masaca, as well as Capixana.
Aikanã plant and animal names from Silva are listed in the corresponding :pt:Língua aicanã|Portuguese article.