Piapoco language

Piapoco is a branch of the Arawak language, which also includes Achagua and Tariana.{{cite journal | last1 = Seifart | first1 = F | year = 2012 | title = Causative Marking in Resígaro (Arawakan): A Descriptive and Comparative Perspective | journal = International Journal of American Linguistics | volume = 78 | issue = 3| pages = 369–384 | doi = 10.1086/665917 | s2cid = 144865690 }} Piapoco is considered a Northern Arawak language.{{cite journal|jstor=1265983|title=Review of Vocabulario Piapoco-Español, ; Bosquejo del Macuna: Aspectos de la cultura material de los macunas--Fonología; Gramática, , , ; Gramática Pedagógica del Cuiba-Wámonae: Lengua indígena de la familia lingüística guahiba de los llanos orientales|first=Alexandra Y.|last=Aikhenvald|date=1 January 1998|journal=International Journal of American Linguistics|volume=64|issue=2|pages=168–173|doi=10.1086/466355}} There are only about 3,000 Piapoco speakers left today. These people live in the Meta, Vichada, and Guaviare rivers in Colombia{{cite journal|jstor=1265211|title=Relative Clauses in Piapoco|first1=James|last1=Klumpp|first2=Donald A.|last2=Burquest|date=1 January 1983|journal=International Journal of American Linguistics|volume=49|issue=4|pages=388–399|doi=10.1086/465801|s2cid=144582996 }} Piapoco speakers also reside in Venezuela.{{cite web|url=http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/2955|title=Did you know Piapoco is threatened?|website=Endangered Languages|access-date=2017-04-30|archive-date=2017-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008021445/http://endangeredlanguages.com/lang/2955|url-status=live}} It is an endangered language.

The Piapocos come from the larger tribe, the Piaroa, who are indigenous to the Amazon rain forest.Piapoco Indians. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2017, from http://www.indian-cultures.com/cultures/piapoco-indians/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226044835/http://www.indian-cultures.com/cultures/piapoco-indians/ |date=2019-02-26 }} The Piapoco people originally lived in the midsection of Rio Guaviare, later moving in the 18th century to avoid settlers, missionaries, and others.Flowers, N. M. (n.d.). Piapoco. Retrieved March 09, 2017, from http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Piapoco.html

The word Piapoco is a Spanish nickname in reference to the toucan. Most Piapoco speakers also speak Spanish. Speakers who have had less contact with Spanish speakers more often pronounce the phoneme "s" as a voiceless interdental fricative. Younger speakers of the Piapoco language tend to eliminate the "h" more than older speakers due to their contact with the Spanish language.

When a large portion of people come in contact with another language and are competent in it, their language gradually becomes more like the other.{{cite journal|jstor=4176787|title=Mechanisms of Change in Areal Diffusion: New Morphology and Language Contact|first=Alexandra Y.|last=Aikhenvald|date=1 January 2003|journal=Journal of Linguistics|volume=39|issue=1|pages=1–29|doi=10.1017/s0022226702001937}} This allows for a gradual convergence, where grammar and semantics of one language begin to replicate the other.

• /s̪/ can be pronounced as {{IPAblink|θ}} among speakers who have had less contact with Spanish speakers.
• /k/ can be palatalized as {{IPAblink|kʲ}} when after /i/, before another vowel.
• /ts/ can be pronounced as {{IPAblink|tʃ}} in free variation among different speakers.
• /w/ is pronounced as {{IPAblink|β}} when preceding front vowels.

Vowels can be nasalized [ã] when occurring before nasal consonants.{{Cite book|last1=Klumpp|first1=Deloris A.|title=A Grammar of Piapoco|last2=Hollenbach|first2=Barbara E.|publisher=SIL International|year=2019}}

A Piapoco-Spanish dictionary containing 2,500 words was written by Deloris Klumpp, in which botanical identification of plants were captured, although not all. The Piapoco language follows the following grammatical rules: plural suffix -nai used for animates only, derivational suffixes masculine -iri, feminine -tua, suffix -mi 'late, defunct,' nominalizing -si, declarative mood marker -ka. Piapoco is unique in that it seems to be a nominative-accusative language. There are eighteen segmental phonemes, fourteen consonant and four vowels in the Piapoco language.Klumpp, D. (1990). Piapoco Grammar. 1-136. Retrieved March 9, 2017, from https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/18810 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115143939/https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/18810 |date=2017-11-15 }}.

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/publications/entry/80649 |title=A Grammar of Piapoco |last=Klumpp |first=Deloris A. |publisher=SIL International |year=2019 |editor-last=Hollenbach |editor-first=Barbara E. |series=SIL eBook 71}}

{{Languages of Colombia}}

{{Languages of Venezuela}}

{{Arawakan languages}}

Category:Languages of Colombia

Category:Languages of Venezuela

Category:Arawakan languages

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