The Phonology of Panãra: A Segmental Analysis

Abstract

This paper provides a detailed description and analysis of the phonology of Panãra (ISO code: kre), a Northern Jê language spoken in central Brazil. Panãra exhibits a particularly large phonemic inventory, which contrasts oral and nasal segments, as well as short and long segments, in both its consonant and vowel inventories. Specifically, the language exhibits seventeen contrastive consonants, twenty-eight contrastive vowels, and a very complex phonological grammar at the segmental level, with a number of significant alternations. The prosodic phonology of Panãra will be presented in a separate article (Lapierre 2023).