Iñapari language
Iñapari is a critically endangered indigenous South American language spoken by just four people in Peru along the Las [Piedras River |Las Piedras] river near the mouth of the Sabaluyoq river. The language is already extinct in neighboring Bolivia. All five remaining speakers are bilingual in Spanish and none of their children and grandchildren speak the language, which will likely lead to its extinction once the speakers die. The Iñapari language currently has a published dictionary.
The Pacaguara dialect described by Mercier was at least ethnically distinct.
Phonology
According to Parker, Iñapari has eleven consonants and six vowels.| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Glottal | |
| Nasals | ||||
| Plosives | ||||
| Fricatives | ||||
| Liquids | ~ | |||
| Glides |
The status of the lateral as a phoneme is considered dubious as is found in few words and may be a phonetic variant of /r/.
Iñapari's six vowels are /i e a ï o u/, where /ï/ is a high back unrounded vowel.
Grammar
Nouns
The only two features associated with nominals are gender and possession.Nouns are divided into two genders: masculine and feminine. Animate nouns can also take a neutral gender when the actual gender is irrelevant to the utterance.
Possession is marked by prefixes and follows the inherent/non-inherent strategy.