Emerillon (Teko)

Emerillon is a member of the Tupí-Guarani branch of the Tupian language family. It is spoken by about 400 people in southern French Guiana on the Camopi rivers in the Camopi Commune, and on the Tampok River in the Maripasoula Commune. Although Emerillon is considered endangered due to the small number of speakers, it is spoken by people of all ages and is passed on to children.

Emerillon is also known as Emerilon, Emerion, Mero, Melejo, Mereyo or Tekó. Native speakers call the language, and themselves, Teko. It is closely related to Wayampi, which is spoken in French Guiana and Brazil.

Emerillon is written with the Latin alphabet using a spelling system based on the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Emerillon alphabet and pronunciation

Notes

Before nasal vowels, b = [m], d = [n], g = [ŋ], j [ɲ], l = [n], r = [n], w = [w̃] and y = [j]
Between vowels, b = [mb], d = [nd], h = [h̃], j [ɲ], l = [n], r = [n], w = [w̃] and y
At the ends of words ch, k, p and t are not audibly released
In closed syllables (ending with a consonant), e = [ɛ], ẽ; [ɛ̃], o = [ɔ], õ = [ɔ̃]

Download an alphabet chart for Emerillon (Excel)

Sample video in Emerillon

Links

Information about Emerillon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerillon_language
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Émérillon
https://www.ethnologue.com/language/eme/
https://tular.clld.org/languages/Teko
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362790233_Grammaire_de_l'emerillon_teko_une_langue_tupi-guarani_de_Guyane_francaise
http://www.language-archives.org/language/eme
https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00724352/document

Tupian languages

Cocama, Emerillon, Guarani, Kaiwá, Makurap, Nheengatu, Wayampi

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 19.07.23. Last modified: 19.07.23

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