Arauan languages
Encyclopedia
Arawan is a family of languages spoken in western Brazil
(Amazonas, Acre
) and Peru
.
The entire ethnic group that spoke Arawá became extinct
in 1877 due to measles
.
Kanamanti is listed in Kaufman (1994) with a question mark. Gordon (2005) does not list a Kanamantí language but does list the terms Kanamanti and Canamanti as alternate names for Jamamadi. Buller et al. (1993) does not list Kanamanti in their list of Arawan languages.
Zuruahá is listed in Gordon (2005) and mentioned in Kaufman (1994) from personal communication from Dan Everett — first contact with the community (a 3-day hike from the Dení's territory in Amazonas) was made in 1980. The language had not been studied as of 1994, but seems most similar to Deni.
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(Amazonas, Acre
Acre (state)
Acre is one of the 27 states of Brazil. It is situated in the southwest of the Northern Region, bordering Amazonas to the north, Rondônia to the east, Bolivia to the southeast and the Ucayali Region of Peru to the south and west. It occupies an area of 152,581.4 km2, being slightly smaller...
) and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
.
Family division
Arauan consists of 8 or 9 languages:- Arawá (also known as Arawa, Arua) (†)
- Kulina (also known as Culina-Madijá, Culina)
- DeniDeni languageDeni is an Arawan language spoken in Brazil. Deni is very similar to the other languages of the Arawan language family, but is especially similar to the Jamamadi language....
- JamamadiJamamadí languageJamamadi is an Arawan language spoken by about 200 Jamamadi people scattered over Amazonas, Brazil....
(also known as Madi) - PaumariPaumarí languagePaumarí is an Arauan language spoken in Brazil by about 700 people. It is spoken by the Paumari Indians, who call their language “Pamoari”...
- SuruwaháZuruahá languageZuruahá is an Arauan language spoken in Brazil by about 130 people....
(also known as Sorowahá, Zuruahá)
The entire ethnic group that spoke Arawá became extinct
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication...
in 1877 due to measles
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
.
Kanamanti is listed in Kaufman (1994) with a question mark. Gordon (2005) does not list a Kanamantí language but does list the terms Kanamanti and Canamanti as alternate names for Jamamadi. Buller et al. (1993) does not list Kanamanti in their list of Arawan languages.
Zuruahá is listed in Gordon (2005) and mentioned in Kaufman (1994) from personal communication from Dan Everett — first contact with the community (a 3-day hike from the Dení's territory in Amazonas) was made in 1980. The language had not been studied as of 1994, but seems most similar to Deni.
External links
- Ethnologue: Arauan
- Proel: Sub-tronco Arawán