Ese Ejja language

{{Short description|Tacanan language spoken in Bolivia and Peru}} {{Expand language|topic=|langcode=es|otherarticle=Idioma ese eja|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox language | fontcolor = #ffffff | name = Ese'ejja | nativename = {{lang|ese|ese'ejja}} | states = Bolivia, Peru | region = Beni Department (Bolivia), La Paz Department (Bolivia), Pando Department, (Bolivia); Department of Madre de Dios (Peru), Department of Puno, Peru | ethnicity = Ese Ejja people | speakers = {{sigfig|730|1}} | date = 2007 | ref = e18 | familycolor = pano-tacanan | fam1 = Tacanan | nation = {{flag|Bolivia}} | iso3 = ese | glotto = esee1248 | glottorefname = Ese Ejja | altname = Tiatinagua | pronunciation = {{IPA|[eseʔexa]}} }}

'''Ese Ejja''' (Ese'eha, Eseʼexa, Ese exa), also known as '''Tiatinagua''' (Tatinawa), is a Tacanan language of Bolivia and Peru. It is spoken by Ese Ejja people of all ages. Dialects are Guacanawa (Guarayo/Huarayo), Baguaja, Echoja, and possibly extinct Chama, Chuncho, Huanayo, Kinaki, and Mohino. Chunene is "similar" to Ese Ejja, though whether a dialect or a separate language is not clear.<ref>{{glottolog|pano1259|Pano-Tacanan}}</ref>

== Historical, social and cultural characteristics == Ese Ejja is spoken in the La Paz, Beni, and Pando departments of Bolivia (in the provinces of Iturralde, Ballivián, Vaca Diez, and Madre de Dios) on the Beni and Madre de Dios rivers; and in the Madre de Dios and Puno departments of Peru. According to Alexiades & Peluso (2009), there are approximately 1,500 Ese Ejja, distributed among different communities in Peru and Bolivia. The Bolivian Ese Ejja are divided into two clans: the Quijati, around the Riberalta region; and the Hepahuatahe in the Rurenabaque region. Crevels & Muysken (2009:15) write that in Bolivia there were 518 Ese Ejja speakers (of four years of age and older), and therefore is an endangered language. Some names used to refer to the language are Ese'eha, Chama, and Warayo; Chama is a pejorative regional name, and Guarayo is also the name of a Tupí-Guaraní language group. In Peru, the Ese Ejja language (Guacanahua, Echoja, Chuncho) is spoken along the Madre de Dios and Tambopata rivers and at their sources in three locations: Sonene, Palma Real, and Infierno. Ese Ejja is also seriously threatened in Peru, with 840 speakers in an ethnic group of the same size.

==Phonology== Ese Ejja has 17 consonant phonemes and four vowels.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Vuillermet |first=Marine |title=A grammar of Ese Ejja, a Takanan language of the Bolivian Amazon |date=14 September 2012 |degree=PhD |publisher=Lumière University Lyon 2 |url=http://www.marinevuillermet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/a_grammar_of_eseejjaFINAL.pdf |access-date=2023-06-30 |archive-date=2020-02-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224151658/http://www.marinevuillermet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/a_grammar_of_eseejjaFINAL.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> A practical orthography is shown between angled brackets in the table below.

Ese Ejja has ejective consonants such as {{IPA|/kʼ/}} as well as voiceless implosives such as {{IPA|/ɓ̥/}}. {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+Ese Ejja consonants ! !Bilabial !Alveolar !Postalveolar !Alveo-palatal !Velar !Labiovelar !Uvular !Glottal |- !Voiceless plosive |{{IPA link|p}} {{angbr|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} {{angbr|t}} |{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} {{angbr|ch}} | |{{IPA link|k}} {{angbr|k}} |{{IPA link|kʷ}} ~ {{IPA link|ɡʷ}} {{angbr|kw}} | |{{IPA link|ʔ}} {{angbr|'}} |- !Voiced plosive |({{IPA link|b}}) |({{IPA link|d}}) | | | | | | |- !Voiceless implosive |{{IPA link|ɓ̥}} {{angbr|b}} |{{IPA link|ɗ̥}} {{angbr|d}} | | | | | | |- !Fricative | |{{IPA link|s}} {{angbr|s}} |{{IPA link|ʃ}} {{angbr|sh}} | colspan="3" |{{IPA link|ɕ}} ~ {{IPA link|x}} ~ {{IPA link|xʷ}} {{angbr|x}} |({{IPA link|χ}}) |{{IPA link|h}} ~ {{IPA link|ɦ}} {{angbr|j}} |- !Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} ~ {{IPA link|ᵐb}} {{angbr|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} ~ {{IPA link|ⁿd}} {{angbr|n}} | |{{IPA link|ɲ}} {{angbr|ñ}} | | | | |- !Glide | |({{IPA link|l}}) | |{{IPA link|j}} {{angbr|y}} | |{{IPA link|w}} {{angbr|w}} | | |}

* Nasal sounds {{IPA|/m, n/}} may range to prenasalized stops {{IPA|[ᵐb, ⁿd]}} in free variation in initial position, as well as be heard as voiced plosives {{IPA|[b, d]}} in free variation. {{IPA|[l]}} may also be heard as an allophone of {{IPA|/n/}} in free variation. * {{IPA|/x/}} is heard as {{IPA|[ɕ]}} when in between front vowels {{IPA|/i, e/}}, and is heard as labialized {{IPA|[xʷ]}} when following {{IPA|/o/}}. Elsewhere, it is most commonly heard as uvular {{IPA|[χ]}} or velar {{IPA|[x]}}. * {{IPA|/ʃ/}} can be palatalized as {{IPA|[ʃʲ]}} in free variation. * {{IPA|/h/}} may also be heard as voiced {{IPA|[ɦ]}} in free variation. * {{IPA|/kʷ/}} may also be heard as voiced {{IPA|[ɡʷ]}} in free variation. * {{IPA|/k/}} may become palatalized as {{IPA|[kʲ]}} when before or between {{IPA|/i, e/}}. * {{IPA|/k/}} can also be heard as an ejective {{IPA|[kʼ]}} or a uvular {{IPA|[q]}} among emphatic speech.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |+Ese Ejja vowels ! !Front !Central !Back |- !High |{{IPA link|i}} | | |- !Mid |{{IPA link|e}} | |{{IPA link|o}} |- !Low | |{{IPA link|a}} | |} Three diphthongs occur: {{IPA|[io]}}, {{IPA|[ia]}}, and {{IPA|[oe]}}; these are represented as {{angbr|yo}}, {{angbr|ya}}, and {{angbr|we}} in the practical orthography to prevent confusion with vowel sequences.

Syllables have the structure (C)V.

== Grammar == {{Empty section|date=February 2020}}

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{cite thesis |type=Doctoral dissertation in Linguistics| publisher = Université Lyon 2| last = Vuillermet| first = Marine| title = A Grammar of Ese Ejja, a Takanan language of the Bolivian Amazon| location = Lyon| date = 2012 | url=http://www.marinevuillermet.com/these/complete-thesis/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406093318/http://www.marinevuillermet.com/these/complete-thesis/ |archive-date=2015-04-06}} **{{cite web |title=Resumé |trans-title=Resumé |website=Marine Vuillermet |url=http://www.marinevuillermet.com/these/resume-thesis-fr/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150406040511/http://www.marinevuillermet.com/these/resume-thesis-fr/ |archive-date=2015-04-06 |language=fr, en}}

== External links == {{incubator|ese|wiktionary}} * ELAR archive of [http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0258 Documentation of the Ese Ejja language of the Amazonian region of Bolivia] *[https://ids.clld.org/contributions/274 Ese Ejja] (Intercontinental Dictionary Series) *[https://ids.clld.org/contributions/275 Ese Ejja (Huarayo)] (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ese Ejja Language}} Category:Tacanan languages Category:Languages of Bolivia Category:Languages of Peru