Mapoyo-Yabarana language

Mapoyo
Mapoyo
Mapoyo–Yavarana
Native to	Venezuela
Region	Suapure River
Ethnicity	520 Mapoyo & Yabarana (2007)
Extinct	Last speaker of Pemono after 1998. A few semi-speakers of Mapoyo proper (2007), 20 Yabarana (1977)
Language family	Carib Venezuelan Carib Mapoyo–Tamanaku Mapoyo; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously:; mcg – Mapoyo; yar – Yabarana; pev – Pémono
Glottolog	mapo1245
ELP	Yawarana
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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 spoken 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

^ ^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)
^ Not the same as Pemon
^ Medina, Francia (1997). Introducción a la Fonética y a la Fonología Mapoyo (Caribe). Caracas: Universidad Central de Venezuela.

Granadillo, Tania. 2019. El mapoyo y la rama venezolana de lenguas caribes. Cadernos de Etnolingüística, volume 7, número 1, julho/2019, p. 43-55.

External links

Yabarana word list

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[e18-1] 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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