Bésɨro

Bésɨro
Lomeriano
Bésɨro
Pronunciation	[ˈbesɨro]
Native to	Bolivia
Ethnicity	Chiquitano
Native speakers	<2,400 (2012)
Language family	Macro-Jê? Chiquitano Bésɨro
Writing system	Latin script
Official status
Official language in	Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cax
Glottolog	chiq1248
ELP	Chiquitano

Bésɨro (Lomeriano) is a variety of Chiquitano spoken by less than 2,400 Chiquitano people and a Macro-Jê language. It is one of the 37 official languages of Bolivia.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p	t̪	t	t͡ʃ	k	ʔ
Fricative	β		s	ʃ
Nasal	m		n	ɲ	ŋ
Sonorant	w		r	j

Vowels

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Close-mid	e		o
Open		a

Nasal assimilation

Bésɨro has regressive assimilation triggered by nasal nuclei / ɨ̃ ĩ ũ õ ã ẽ/ and targeting consonant onsets within a morpheme.

• /suβũ/ → [suˈmũ] 'parrot (sp.)'

Syllable structure

The language has CV, CVV, and CVC syllables. It does not allow complex onsets or codas. The only codas allowed are nasal consonants.

Orthography

Bésɨro is written using the Latin script. The current official standardized alphabet of Bésɨro is presented below:

Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)
A	AA	B	CH	E	EE	I	II	Ɨ	ƗƗ	J	K	M	N	Ñ	O	OO	P	R	S	T	TY	U	UU	X	XH	Y	'
Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)
a	aa	b	ch	e	ee	i	ii	ɨ	ɨɨ	j	k	m	n	ñ	o	oo	p	r	s	t	ty	u	uu	x	xh	y	'
Name of letters
A	Aa	Be	Che	E	Ee	I	Ii	I	Ii	Jota	Ke	Me	Ne	Ñe	O	Oo	Pe	Re	Se	Te	Tya	U	Uu	Xa	Xha	Ye	Glotal