82

Voiced consonants are two laterals, four nasals, two
glides, and a flap. The stops occur in four positions
of articulation and three manners: plain, aspirated,
and glottalized. The three affricates are all palatal
and pattern with the stops. The three fricatives are
alveolar, velar, and postvelar. The laterals are alveo-
lar and palatal; the glides are bilabial and palatal;
the flap, which may be realized as a trill, is alveolar.

Included in the total of four nasals is the
velar nasal /nh/ ([ H 1), a phoneme in the related language
Jaqaru. The velar nasal has phonemic status in only two
Aymara dialects encountered to date, in the provinces
of Carangas (Oruro, Bolivia) and Tarata (Tacna, Peru),
specifically in the communities of Jopoqueri and Corque
(Carangas) and of Tarata and Sitajara (Tarata). Although
the phoneme occurs in few morphemes, these have a high
functional load. In both Carangas and Tarata the phoneme
occurs in homophonous allomorphs of two suffixes: /-nha/
first person possessive and /-nha/ verbal inflection of
first to third person, Future tense. In Tarata the
phoneme occurs in two more suffixes of the Future tense
(see Figure 6-3) and in at least two noun roots: anhanu
‘cheek' and panhara 'grinder.'

The two areas where the velar nasal phoneme occurs
are separated by the province of Pacajes, department of

La Paz, whose dialects were not investigated directly for