Mapoyo-Yabarana language

Mapoyo
Mapoyo–Yavarana
Native toVenezuela
RegionSuapure River
Ethnicity520 Mapoyo & Yabarana (2007)[1]
Extinctafter 1998 (Pemono)[1]
A few semi-speakers (2007, Mapoyo proper)
20 (1977, Yabarana)
Carib
  • Venezuelan Carib
    • Mapoyo–Tamanaku
      • Mapoyo
Dialects
  • Mapoyo
  • Yabarana
  • Pemono †
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
mcg – Mapoyo
yar – Yabarana
pev – Pémono
Glottologmapo1245
ELPYawarana
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Mapoyo, or Mapoyo–Yavarana, is a Carib language spoken along the Suapure and Parguaza Rivers, Venezuela. The ethnic population of Mapoyo proper is about 365. Yabarana dialect is perhaps extinct; 20 speakers were known in 1977.[1] An additional dialect, Pémono,[2] was discovered in 1998. It was spoke only by an 80-year-old woman and has since gone extinct.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop p t k ʔ
Nasal m n ɲ
Fricative β s h
Rhotic ɾ
Approximant w j
  • /h/ can be heard as a palatal [ç] when preceding a voiceless plosive.
  • /n/ can be heard as a velar [ŋ] when preceding a velar /k/.
  • /β/ can be heard as a voiced stop [b], when after a voiceless plosive or glottal /ʔ/.
  • /s/ can be heard with an allophone of [ts] when word-initially, or after a glottal /ʔ/.
  • /j/ can be heard as a voiced fricative [ʝ], when before a back vowel.

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i ɨ u
Mid e ɘ o
Low a
  • Sounds /i, u/ are reduced to [ɪ, ʊ] in syllable-final position.
  • /ɘ/ is heard as a lower [ə] sound when preceding /h/, or following /β/.
  • /a/ is heard as [ɑ] when occurring after an initial bilabial sound.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Mapoyo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Yabarana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Pémono at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Not the same as Pemon
  3. ^ Medina, Francia (1997). Introducción a la Fonética y a la Fonología Mapoyo (Caribe). Caracas: Universidad Central de Venezuela.


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