Wayuu language
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2022) |
Wayuu | |
---|---|
Guajiro | |
Wayuunaiki | |
Pronunciation | [waˈjuːnaiki] |
Native to | Venezuela, Colombia |
Ethnicity | 793,000 Wayuu people (2011 & 2019 censuses) |
Native speakers | 420,000 (2008–2012)[1] |
Arawakan
| |
Latin script | |
Official status | |
Regulated by | Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwo’u |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | guc |
Glottolog | wayu1243 |
Extent of the Wayuu people and language | |
Wayuu (Wayuu: Wayuunaiki [waˈjuːnaiki]), or Guajiro, is a major Arawakan language spoken by 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia on the Guajira Peninsula.
There are 200,000 speakers of Wayuu in Venezuela and 120,000 in Colombia.[citation needed] Smith (1995) reports that a mixed Guajiro–Spanish language is replacing Wayuu in both countries.[full citation needed] However, Campbell (1997) could find no information on this.[full citation needed]
Recent developments
To promote bilingual education among Wayuu and other Colombians, the Kamusuchiwo’u Ethno-educative Center (Spanish: Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwo’u) came up with the initiative of creating the first illustrated Wayuunaiki–Spanish, Spanish–Wayuunaiki dictionary.[2]
In December 2011, the Wayuu Tayá Foundation and Microsoft presented the first ever dictionary of technology terms in the Wayuu language,[3][4] after having developed it for three years with a team of technology professionals and linguists.
Dialects
The two main dialects are Wüinpümüin and Wopumüin, spoken in the northeast and southwest of the peninsula, respectively. These dialects are mutually intelligible, as they are minimally distinct. The extinct Guanebucan language may actually have been a dialect of Wayuu.[citation needed]
Phonology
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i ⟨i⟩ | ɨ ⟨ü⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ |
Mid | ɛ ⟨e⟩ | ɔ ⟨o⟩ | |
Open | a ⟨a⟩ |
Note: ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ are more open than in English.[clarification needed] ⟨a⟩ is slightly front of central, and ⟨ü⟩ is slightly back of central. All vowels can either occur in short or long versions, since vowel length is distinctive.
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩ | |||
Plosive | p ⟨p⟩ | t̪ ⟨t⟩ | t͡ʃ ⟨ch⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | ʔ ⟨ʼ⟩ |
Fricative | s ⟨s⟩ | ʃ ⟨sh⟩ | h ⟨j⟩ | ||
Flap | ɺ ⟨l⟩ | ||||
Trill | r ⟨r⟩ | ||||
Semivowel | w ⟨w⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ |
⟨l⟩ is a lateral flap pronounced with the tongue just behind the position for the Spanish ⟨r⟩, and with a more lateral airflow.
Grammar
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2022) |
The personal pronouns of Wayuu are[5]
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
1st person | taya | waya |
2nd person | pia | jia |
3rd person | nia (he)
shia (she) |
naya |
Vocabulary examples
The following are examples of Wayuu.[6]
- Anaas wattamaʼat 'good morning'
- Anaas Alikaa 'good afternoon'
- Anaas Aipaʼa 'good night'
- Jamaya piia? 'how are you (singular)?'
- Jamaya jiia? 'how are you (plural)?'
- Atpanaa 'rabbit'
- Alama 'grass'
- Amüchi 'clay jar'
Notes
- ^ Wayuu at Ethnologue (24th ed., 2021)
- ^ "El Wayuunaiki impreso". Semana.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 October 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2006.
- ^ "Fundación Wayuu Tayá y Microsoft Venezuela presentan Diccionario de Computación en Wayuunaiki". UniversoTek (in Spanish). 5 December 2011. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
- ^ Chang, Tatiana (27 December 2011). "Venezuela: New computing dictionary enriches Wayuu language". Infosur hoy. Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
- ^ Mansen, Karis; Mansen, Richard A. (1984). Aprendamos guajiro: Gramática pedagógica de guajiro (in Spanish). Bogotá: Editorial Townsend. p. 44.
- ^ Tutorial I - ¿Cómo saludar en Wayuunaiki? – via YouTube.
External links
- Media related to Wayuu language at Wikimedia Commons
- WayuuTribe.com -About the Wayuu People and Wayuu Art
- Brief explanation of the Wayuunaiiki language
- Spanish-Wayuunaiki dictionary
- Language articles citing Ethnologue 24
- CS1 Spanish-language sources (es)
- Articles with short description
- Articles needing additional references from June 2022
- All articles needing additional references
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- All articles with unsourced statements
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- Wayuu language
- Arawakan languages
- Indigenous languages of the South American Northeast
- Languages of Colombia
- Languages of Venezuela