// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Apalaí language say? It's a dialect above.

Apalaí
Aparaí
Native to	Brazil
Ethnicity	Aparai people
Native speakers	650 (2022)
Language family	Cariban Apalaí
Language codes
ISO 639-3	apy
Glottolog	apal1257
ELP	Apalaí
Linguasphere	80-AGA-aa
Apalai is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Apalaí is a Cariban language spoken in Brazil. Approximately 450 Aparai people speak Apalaí. It is an agglutinative language which uses a rare object–verb–subject word order.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants of Apalai

		Bilabial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop		p	t			k	ʔ
Fricative	voiceless		s	ʃ
	voiced		z
Nasal		m	n
Approximant					j	w
Tap/Flap			ɾ

Vowels

Vowels of Apalai

	Front		Central		Back
	plain	nasal	plain	nasal	plain	nasal
High	i	ĩ	ɨ	ɨ̃	u	ũ
Mid	e	ẽ			o	õ
Low			a	ã