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Languages Of Colombia
More than 99.5% of Colombians speak the Spanish language; also 65 Amerindian languages, 2 Creole languages, the Portuguese language and the Romani language are spoken in the country. English has official status in the San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands. The overwhelming majority of Colombians speak Spanish (see also Colombian Spanish), but in total 101 languages are listed for Colombia in the Ethnologue database. The specific number of spoken languages varies slightly since some authors consider as different languages what others consider to be varieties or dialects of the same language. Best estimates recorded 71 languages that are spoken in-country today—most of which belong to the Chibchan, Tucanoan, Bora–Witoto, Guajiboan, Arawakan, Cariban, Barbacoan, and Saliban language families. There are currently about 850,000 speakers of native languages. Sixty-five indigenous languages that exist today can be regrouped into 12 language families and 10 lang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Language
Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the Americas and Spain. Spanish is the official language of 20 countries. It is the world's second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese; the world's fourth-most spoken language overall after English, Mandarin Chinese, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu); and the world's most widely spoken Romance language. The largest population of native speakers is in Mexico. Spanish is part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. The oldest Latin texts with traces of Spanish come from mid-northern Iberia in the 9th century, and the first systematic written use of the language happened in Toledo, a prominent city of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barbacoan Languages
Barbacoan (also Barbakóan, Barbacoano, Barbacoana) is a language family spoken in Colombia and Ecuador. Genealogical relations The Barbacoan languages may be related to the Páez language. Barbacoan is often connected with the Paezan languages (including Páez); however, Curnow (1998) shows how much of this proposal is based on misinterpretation of an old document of Douay (1888). (See: Paezan languages.) Other more speculative larger groupings involving Barbacoan include the Macro-Paesan "cluster", the Macro-Chibchan stock, and the Chibchan-Paezan stock. Language contact Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Atakame, Cholon-Hibito, Kechua, Mochika, Paez, Tukano, Umbra, and Chibchan (especially between Guaymí and Southern Barbacoan branches) language families due to contact. Languages Barbacoan consists of 6 languages: *Northern :* Awan (also known as Awa or Pasto) ::* Awa Pit (also known as Cuaiquer, Coaiquer, Kwaiker, Awá, Awa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Páez Language
Páez (also Paez, Paes; or the autonym Nasa Yuwe 'Nasa language') is a language of Colombia, spoken by the Páez people. Crevels (2011) estimates 60,000 speakers out of an ethnic population of 140,000. The language is spoken by the second largest Colombian indigenous community, the Páez, in the north of the Cauca Department, in southwestern Colombia. However, the people had to move to other departments of Colombia like Huila, Tolima and Valle del Cauca. Classification Páez is generally considered to be a language isolate, or at least the only surviving member of its family (Adelaar & Muysken 2004). Language contact Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Chibcha, Barbakoa, Choko, Tukano, Andaki, and Kofan language families due to contact. Varieties Below is a full list of Paezan language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties. *Paez / Paisa – the language spoken in the villages of the Paez River, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coconucan Language
Coconuco, also known as Guambiano and Misak, is a dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ... of Colombia spoken by the Guambiano indigenous people. Though the three varieties, Guambiano, moribund Totoró, and the extinct Coconuco are traditionally called languages, Adelaar & Muysken (2004) believe that they are best treated as a single language. Totoró may be extinct; it had 4 speakers in 1998 out of an ethnic population of 4,000. Guambiano, on the other hand, is vibrant and growing. Coconucan was for a time mistakenly included in a spurious Paezan language family, due to a purported "Moguex" (Guambiano) vocabulary that turned out to be a mix of Páez and Guambiano (Curnow 1998). Phonology The Guambiano inventory is as follows (Curnow & Liddicoat 199 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cofán Language
''Aingae'', commonly known as Cofán or Kofán, is the primary language of the Ai (Cofán) people, an indigenous group whose ancestral territory lies at the interface between the Andean foothills and Amazonia in the northeast of Ecuador (Sucumbíos province) and southern Colombia (Putumayo & Nariño provinces). While past classifications have identified Cofán as belonging to linguistic families such as Chibchan or Andean B, it is now widely agreed to be a language isolate, with no known genetic relatives. Although still robustly learned by children in Ecuadorian communities, it is considered an 'endangered language with estimates of around 1500 native speakers. History and Current Status Aingae is a language isolate of Amazonia spoken by the Cofán people in the province of Sucumbios in Northeastern Ecuador and the provinces of Putumayo and Nariño in Southern Columbia. The language has approximately 1500 speakers and is relatively vital in Ecuador and severely endangered in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Awa Pit Language
Located in the region of Colombia and Ecuador, the Awa or Awa Pit speaking people is an indigenous group settled between the Andes Mountains and the Western Coast. Awa Pit or otherwise known as ''Cuaiquer'' (Coaiquer, Cuayquer, Kwaiker, Kwayquer, etc.), in both group and name, is classified as part of the Barbacoan language.Curnow, Timothy Jowan (1997)A Grammar of Awa Pit (Cuaiquer): An indigenous language of south-western Colombia PhD Thesis, Australian National University, Canberra. Retrieved 23 April 2012. Another term that this group goes by is the "Inkal Awa" or "the mountain people", to distinguish themselves from other indigenous groups within that region.Awa pit is classified by UNESCO as a severely endangered language. The Awa pit language has a subject–object–verb structure and has adopted the Latin script.Awa–Cuaiquer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andoque Language
Andoque is a language spoken by a few hundred Andoque people in Colombia, and is in decline. There were 10,000 speakers in 1908, down to 370 a century later, of which at most 50 are monolingual. The remaining speakers live in the area of the Anduche River, downstream from Araracuara Airport, Araracuara, Solano, Caquetá, Colombia; the language is no longer spoken in Peru. Most speakers language shift, shifted to Spanish. Classification Andoque may be related to the extinct Urequena language (also ''Urekena'' or ''Arequena'') which is known only from a single 19th century wordlist. Kaufman's (2007) ''Bora–Witótoan stock'' includes Andoque in the Witótoan family, but other linguists, such as Richard Aschmann, consider Andoque an isolate. Phonology Vowels Landaburu (2000) reports nine oral vowels and six nasal vowels. Consonants The phoneme // is represented Orthography, orthographically as and the phoneme /j/ is written . Tone Andoque vowels have one of two phonol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nadahup Languages
The Naduhup languages, also known as Makú (Macú) or ''Vaupés–Japurá'', form a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name '' Makú'' is pejorative, being derived from an Arawakan word meaning "without speech". ''Nadahup'' is an acronym of the constituent languages. The Nadahup family should not be confused with several other languages which go by the name '' Makú''. There are proposals linking this unclassified language with Nadahup, but also with other languages. External relationships Martins (2005: 342–370) groups the Arawakan Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ... and Nadahup languages together as part of a proposed Makúan-Arawakan (Nadahup-Arawakan) family, but this proposal has been rejected by Aikhenvald (2006: 237). Epps and B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saliba Language (South America)
Saliba ( es, Sáliba, ) is an indigenous language of Eastern Colombia and Venezuela. Saliba was used by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century to communicate with indigenous peoples of the Meta, Orinoco, and Vichada valleys. An 1856 watercolor by Manuel María Paz is an early depiction of the Saliva people in Casanare Province. Use "Saliba was spoken by an ethnic group that lived along the central reaches of the Orinoco River." "This language group was so isolated that the language was reported extinct in 1965." It is not being passed on to many children, but that practice is being reconsidered. As of 2007, "Sáliva speakers now are almost all bilingual in Spanish, and Sáliva children are only learning Spanish instead of their ancestral language." As of 2007, "In the Orocué area the language is only conserved to a high degree among elderly women; others understand Sáliba but no longer express themselves in the language." Native speakers have a literacy rate of 1-5%, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guahibo Languages
Guajiboan (also Guahiban, Wahívoan, Guahiboan) is a language family spoken in the Orinoco River region in eastern Colombia and southwestern Venezuela, a savanna region known as the Llanos. Family division Guajiboan consists of 5 languages: * Macaguane (also known as Hitnü, Macaguán, Makawane, Agualinda, Agualinda Guahibo, Támude) * Southwest Guajiboan ** Guayabero (also known as Cunimía, Mítiwa, Mitúa, Mitu, Hiw, Jiw, Wayavero, Guaviare) ** Churuya (also known as Bisanigua, Guaigua) ''(†)'' * Central Guajiboan ** Guajibo (also known as Guahibo, Sikuani, Sicuani, Chiricoa, Hiwi, Jiwi, Jivi, Wahivo, Wahibo, Guaybo, Goahibo, Guaigua, Guayba, Goahiva) *** Waü (west) *** Newütjü (also known as Tigrero) *** Parawá (east) *** Hamorúa (also known as Amorúa, Jamorúa) *** Dome (also known as Playero, Cajaro) ** Cuiva (also known as Wamonae, Cuiba, Kuiba, Deja, Cuiba-Wámonae) *** Pimenepiwi (Meta river) *** Aitopiwi (Ariporo river) *** Yaraüraxi (Capanaparo river) *** Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Choco Languages
The Choco languages (also Chocoan, Chocó, Chokó) are a small family of Native American languages spread across Colombia and Panama. Family division Choco consists of six known branches, all but two of which are extinct. *The Emberá languages (also known as Chocó proper, Cholo) * Noanamá (also known as Waunana, Woun Meu) * Anserma ''(†)'' * Arma ''(†)'' ? (unattested) * Sinúfana (Cenufara) ''(†)'' ? * Caramanta ''(†)'' ? Anserma, Arma, and Sinúfana are extinct. The Emberá group consists of two languages mainly in Colombia with over 60,000 speakers that lie within a fairly mutually intelligible dialect continuum. Ethnologue divides this into six languages. Kaufman (1994) considers the term ''Cholo'' to be vague and condescending. Noanamá has some 6,000 speakers on the Panama-Colombia border. Jolkesky (2016) Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
