Paraujano is an Arawakan language spoken by one of the Paraujano, or Añu, people of Venezuela. The Paraujano live by Lake Maracaibo, Zulia State, in Northwest Venezuela.[4][5][6]

Status and speakers

Paraujano is critically endangered[7] and nearly extinct.[4] The Maracaibo region began transforming into a largely populated industrial center in the early 1900s, as petroleum was extracted from the Maracaibo Lake. As the Paraujano mingled with others early on, their language was spread and spoken by some newcomers. However, by the 1970s there were only thirteen speakers remaining. As of 2014, there is one surviving fluent speaker, a thirty-year-old by the name of Yofri Márquez, who learned the language from his grandmother. There are a few partial speakers, most of whom are elderly. Revitalization efforts include Paraujano instruction in six regional elementary schools and the establishment of various cultural organizations.[1]

Classification

Paraujano is a Northern Arawakan, or Maipuran, language. It is derived from Guajiro, yet is a distinct language and not a dialect of Guajiro. The two languages are closely related. According to lexicostatistical analysis conducted by Oliver (1989) the two languages must have diverged around AD 900.[2]

Phonology

The Paraujano phonemic inventory contains 14 pulmonic consonants and 11 vowels.

Paraujano consonants[8]
BilabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasal mnɲ
Stop/Affricate pttʃk
Fricative sʃh
Semivowel jw
Rhotic ɾ
Lateral l
Paraujano vowels[8]
FrontCentralBack
High i iːɨ ɨːu uː
Mid e eːo oː
Low a aː

The Paraujano phoneme inventory differs from closely related Guajiro, mainly in vowels and due to the incorporation of Spanish lexicon. There are a number of allophones in Paraujano. Among these allophones, there is a tendency toward palatization or nasalization.[2][9]

Lexicon

Paraujano has incorporated some Spanish words into its vocabulary. Out the eighty-nine available words from the Swadesh list, six are Spanish substitutes.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sabogal, Andrés Mauricio. "The revival of Añunnükü or Paraujano language". Proceedings of the High Desert Linguists Society. 10.
  2. 1 2 3 Oliver, José R. (1989). The Archaeological, Linguistic and Ethnohistorical Evidence for the Expansion of Arawakan into Northwestern Venezuela and Northeastern Colombia. Urbana, Illinois.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ↑ "Venezuelan native group tries to save dying language". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2024-12-31.
  4. 1 2 Lewis, M. Paul; Simons, Gary F.; Fennig, Charles D. (eds.). "Paraujano". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Eighteen. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Archived from the original on 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  5. ↑ nombrar, Jofris se quedó solo Solo con su particular forma de expresar el dolor y el amor Una isla en un mundo sin (2017-05-09). "El último hablante añú". Noticiascol.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  6. ↑ Arguello, Bertha (2024-10-25). "INIDI bautizó primer cuento bilingüe en idioma Añú en el Zulia". Yvke Mundial | De La Mano Con El Pueblo (in Spanish). Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  7. ↑ "Paraujano". The Endangered Languages Project. The Alliance for Linguistic Diversity. Archived from the original on 17 April 2022. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  8. 1 2 "Parujano". South American Phonological Inventory Database. Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  9. ↑ Álvarez, José (2009). El Añú o Paraujano, una lengua Arahuaca moribunda. Lingüística 22. pp. 129–159.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ↑ Oliver, José R. (1989). The Archaeological, Linguistic and Ethnohistorical Evidence for the Expansion of Arawakan into Northwestern Venezuela and Northeastern Colombia. Urbana, Illinois.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraujano_language