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Guanano Indian Language (Kotiria, Wanano, Wanana)

Languages: Guanano is a Tucanoan language of South America. It is closely related to Piratapuyo, and some people consider them to be dialects of a single language, but speakers of Guanano and Piratapuyo cannot understand each other well. Guanano is spoken by 800 people in Brazil and Colombia. It is a tone language with SOV word order.

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Names: Wanano is not the people's own name for themselves-- it was a name given to them by early Jesuit missionaries (spelled "Uanano" in Portuguese and "Guanano" in Spanish,) and may have been the corruption of an indigenous place name. Though the people do accept the name Wanano today, most of them call themselves by their name in their own language, Kotiria (meaning "water people.") They have sometimes been referred to as Panumapa, as well, which is the name they are called by the nearby Tariana tribe. Alternate spellings of these names include Anano, Anana, Wanana, Uanana, Uanána, Ananas, Ananás, Ananá. Guanana, Wanâna, Wanána, Waina, Uaiana, Uainana, Unano, Gwanano, Uamana, Wanana-Pirá, Guanaña, Wañaña, Wañaño, Añaño; Cotiria, Kótiria, Kotíriâ, Kotirya, Kótirya, Kotitia, Kótedia, Kotedia, Kotoria, and Kotirio.

Guanano Language Resources

Languages of Northwestern Brazil:
    Map showing where in Brazil the Guanano language is spoken.
Omniglot: Guanano:
    Profile of the Guanano language including a phonological inventory, orthography and a text.
Guanano Linguistic Description * Guanano Phonology * Guanano Text:
    Scanned-in Guanano language materials from the Rosetta Project.
Guanano Phonology:
    Linguistic chart of phonemes in the Guanano language.
La Lengua Wanana-Pirá:
    Information on Guanano including linguistic maps of South America. Page in Spanish.
Guanano Papers:
    Archive of linguistics papers on Guanano, in English and Spanish.
Wanano-Piratapuyo Language Tree:
    Theories about Wanano's language relationships compiled by Linguist List.
Guanano Language Structures:
    Guanano linguistic profile and academic bibliography.
Guanano Prayers: * Guanano Words of Life: * Language Museum: Guanano: * Tower of Babel in Guanano:
    Genesis in Guanano: * Wanano New Testamanet:
    Translation of Christian prayers and Bible stories into Guanano.

Books for sale on the *
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A Reference Grammar of Kotiria:
    Weanano language book for sale online.
The Wanano Indians of the Brazilian Amazon: A Sense of Space:
    Anthropology book on the social structures of the Wanano and other Tucanoan tribes.

Guanano Culture and History Links

Wanano Culture:
    History and traditions of the Guanano tribe.
Guanano Cultural Objects:
    Museum exhibit with photographs of Guanano artifacts.
Defenders of the Colombian Amazon sacred hills:
    News article about the Wanano struggle to defend their territory from mining development.
Tribes of Rio Uaupe: Kotiria:
    Ethnography of the Kotiria. Pira-tapuya, and other Eastern Tukanoan tribes.

Links, References, and Additional Information

  Wikipedia: Guanano:
  Encyclopedia articles on the Guanano language.
  OLAC: Guanano:
  Reference list of Guanano language materials.
  Los indios wanano * Tribus indigenas de Colombia: Wananos * Los Guanano * Comunidad Wanana:
  Information about the Guananos in Spanish.
  Povo Kotiria:
  Information about the Guananos in Portuguese.



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