Piaroa language

Piaroa
De'aruwa
Native toColombia and Venezuela
EthnicityPiaroa people
Native speakers
(13,000–14,000 cited 2001)[1]
Piaroa–Saliban
  • Piaroan
    • Piaroa
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3pid
Glottologpiar1243
ELPPiaroa

Piaroa is an Indigenous language of Venezuela and Colombia by the Piaroa people. Loukotka (1968) reports that it is spoken along the Sipapo River, Orinoco River, and Ventuari River.[2]

The Wirö language (commonly called the pejorative term "Maco") is closely related, the two forming the Piaroan branch of the family.[3]

Alternate names

Piaroa is called by many names, including variations of Wotuja[4] and Huottüja. It is also called Guagua, Kuakua, Quaqua, Adole, Ature, and Wo’tiheh.

Phonology

Consonants
Bilabial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
nor. lab. nor. lab.
Stop Plain p t k ʔ
Aspirated pʰ~ɸ kʰʷ
Ejective kʷʼ
Glottal ˀb ˀd
Affricate Plain t͡ʃ~t͡s
Aspirated t͡sʰ
Ejective t͡sʼ
Fricative s hˣʷ
Nasal m n
Flap/Lateral ɾ ʎ
Approximant j~dʲ w

Palatalization of /k, kʰ, kʼ, hˣ/ may occur when before front vowels as [kʲ, kʲʰ, kʲʼ, hʲ].

/pʰ/ may also be heard as a fricative [ɸ] in free variation.

Sounds /j/ and /t͡ʃ/ may have allophones of [dʲ, t͡s].

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u ɯ
Mid e ɤ~o
Open æ ɑ~ɒ

Vowels /ɤ, ɑ/ are rounded as [o, ɒ] when after labial sounds.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Endangered Languages Project – Piaroa". Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
  2. ^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  3. ^ Zamponi, R. 2017 'Betoi-Jirara, Sáliban, and Hodɨ: relationships among three linguistic lineages of the mid-Orinoco region'. Anthropological Linguistics 59: 263-321.
  4. ^ Censo indígena de Venezuela, 1992 (Volume 1 ed.). Venezuela Oficina Central de Estadística e Informática. 1993. p. 516.
  5. ^ Mosonyi, Esteban E. (2002). Elementos De Gramática Piaroa: Algunas Consideraciones Sobre Sus Clases Nominales (PDF).