# Shipibo language

Shipibo (also Shipibo-Conibo, Shipibo-Konibo) is a Panoan language spoken in Peru and Brazil by approximately 26,000 speakers. Shipibo is a recognized indigenous language of Peru.

## Dialects

Shipibo has three attested dialects:
* Shipibo and Konibo (Conibo), which have merged
* Kapanawa of the Tapiche River, which is obsolescent
Extinct Xipináwa (Shipinawa) is thought to have been a dialect as well, but there is no linguistic data.

## Phonology
### Vowels

Monophthong phonemes :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| Close | i ĩ ⟨i⟩ | | ɯ ɯ̃ ⟨e⟩ |
| Mid | | | o õ ⟨o⟩ |
| Open | | a ã ⟨a⟩ | |
* /i/ and /o/ are lower than their cardinal counterparts (in addition to being more front in the latter case): [i̞], [o̽], /ɯ/ is more front than cardinal [ɯ]: [ɯ̟], whereas /a/ is more close and more central [ɐ] than cardinal [a]. The first three vowels tend to be somewhat more central in closed syllables, whereas /ɯ/ before coronal consonants (especially /n, t, s/) can be as central as [ɨ].
* In connected speech, two adjacent vowels may be realized as a rising diphthong.

#### Nasal

* The oral vowels /i, ɯ, o, a/ are phonetically nasalized [ĩ, ɯ̃, õ, ã] after a nasal consonant, but the phonological behaviour of these allophones is different from the nasal vowel phonemes /ĩ, ɯ̃, õ, ã/.
* Oral vowels in syllables preceding syllables with nasal vowels are realized as nasal, but not when a consonant other than /w, j/ intervenes.

#### Unstressed

* The second one of the two adjacent unstressed vowels is often deleted.
* Unstressed vowels may be devoiced or even elided between two voiceless obstruents.

### Consonants

Consonant phonemes :
| | | Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Retroflex | Palato- alveolar | Dorsal | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | | | | |
| Plosive | Plosive | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩ | | | k ⟨c/qu⟩ | |
| Affricate | Affricate | | ts ⟨ts⟩ | | tʃ ⟨ch⟩ | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | | s ⟨s⟩ | ʂ ⟨s̈h⟩ | ʃ ⟨sh⟩ | | h ⟨j⟩ |
| Fricative | voiced | β ⟨b⟩ | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | w ⟨hu⟩ | | ɻ ⟨r⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ | | |
* /m, p, β/ are bilabial, whereas /w/ is labialized velar.
** /β/ is most typically a fricative [β], but other realizations (such as an approximant [β̞], a stop [b] and an affricate [bβ]) also appear. The stop realization is most likely to appear in word-initial stressed syllables, whereas the approximant realization appears most often as onsets to non-initial unstressed syllables.
* /n, ts, s/ are alveolar [n, ts, s], whereas /t/ is dental [t̪].
* The /ʂ–ʃ/ distinction can be described as an apical–laminal one.
* /k/ is velar, whereas /j/ is palatal.
* Before nasal vowels, /w, j/ are nasalized [w̃, j̃] and may be even realized close to nasal stops [ŋʷ, ɲ].
* /w/ is realized as [w] before /a, ã/, as [ɥ] before /i, ĩ/ and as [ɰ] before /ɯ, ɯ̃/. It does not occur before /o, õ/.
* /ɻ/ is a very variable sound:
** Intervocalically, it is realized either as continuant, with or without weak frication ([ɻ] or [ʐ]).
** Sometimes (especially in the beginning of a stressed syllable) it can be realized as a postalveolar affricate [d̠͡z̠], or a stop-approximant sequence [d̠ɹ̠].
** It can also be realized as a postalveolar flap [ɾ̠].