Siona is a Western Tucanoan language spoken by about 500 people in southwestern Colombia. In particular, it is spoken in the villages of Ponuna Blanca and Ponuna Negra on the Putumayo River and its tributaries in the Putumayo Department in Colombia.
Siona is also known as Bain Coca, Pioje, Pioche-Sioni, Ganteyabain, Ganteya, Ceona, Zeona, Koka or Kanú. Siona speakers call their language Gantëya coca. It is closely related to Ecuadorian Siona and Secoya, and these languages are more or less mutually intelligible. They are classified as separate languages because the people who speak them are ethnically distinct.
The first people to document Siona were Franciscan missionaries in the early 17th century. From the mid-18th century, the missionaries started to translate religious works into Siona and worked to make Siona a regional lingua franca. There appear to be several ways to write Siona with the Latin alphabet, including one devised by Alva and Margaret Wheeler. There is a Siona translation of the New Testament of the Bible.
Download an alphabet chart for Siona (Excel)
Ñataguëna, yo sa'rona gajeni, ya'o guëtabëbi simire mauhuë. Mauni, yo'oguë ba'iguëna, huitoyore tëani sabi. Tëani saguëna, chani ruë'ë yë'ë. Chani runi, huitoyore zeanni bahuë, simibi reguëna. Ja'nrëni yë'ë rënjoni güiguë quëahuë: “Simini eoni saguëna, chani ruë'ë. Si'a huitoyore reguëna. simini zeanhuë.” Quëaguena, ai chogo yë'ë hua'guë huahuahuë. Huahuaguëna, ai chogo bago. Chogona, “Choma'ijë'ën. Hua'ire mauñë” cahuë.
En el amanecer bajé al puerto y con la tripa de cerillo fui a pescar barbudo. Pront, jaló la carnada y se la llevó con todo el variador. Así es que brinqué al río, cogí el variador y tuve al barbudo colgado. Lueg grité a mi mujer: “El barbudo se iba con mi variador y brinqué tras él. Le cogí colgado en el variador.” Cuando le dije así, ella se río de mi. Cuando ella bajó a ver. ahí estaba yo flotando en el río. Se rio mucho, pero yo le dije, “No se ría. Estoy pescando.”
Source: ¡Si puede leer en castellano, puede leer en siona!. Alva and Margaret Wheeler, 1985.
Information about Siona
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siona_language
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siona_(langue)
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Сиона_(язык)
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/snn
https://delamazonas.com/en/colombia-en/siona/
http://www.language-archives.org/language/sai
Carapana, Cubeo, Desano, Guanano, Secoya, Siona (Colombian), Siona (Ecuadorian), Tucano, Tuyuca, Yurutí
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page created: 04.12.12. Last modified: 04.12.24
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