Guamo ( Wamo or Guamotey) is an extinct language of Venezuela. Kaufman (1990) finds a connection with the

Chapacuran languages The Chapacuran languages are a nearly extinct Native American language family of South America. Almost all Chapacuran languages are extinct, and the four that are extant are moribund, with the exception of Wari'. They are spoken in Rondônia in ...

convincing.

Varieties

Varieties that may have been dialects or closely related languages: *Guamo of San José - on the

Santo Domingo River Santo Domingo River is a river of Venezuela. It is part of the Orinoco River basin. See also *List of rivers of Venezuela This is a list of rivers in Venezuela. By drainage basin This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributa ...

, Zamora *Dazaro - once spoken in Zamora on the Guanare River *Guamontey - once spoken from the mouth of the

Zárate River Zárate may refer to: Places * Zárate, Buenos Aires, a port city in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina * Zárate Partido, a political administrative division in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina * Zárate–Brazo Largo Bridge, a set of road and railw ...

to the

Apure River The Apure River is a river of southwestern Venezuela, formed by the confluence of the Sarare and Uribante near Guasdualito, in Venezuela, at , and flowing across the Llanos into the Orinoco. It provides significant transportation in the area. Ori ...

(unattested) *Tayaga - once spoken between the

Arauca River The Arauca River () rises in the Andes Mountains of north-central Colombia and ends at the Orinoco in Venezuela. For part of its run it is the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. The major city on its banks is Arauca, Arauca, Arauca, Col ...

and

, in

Apure State Apure State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. Its territory formed part of the provinces of Mérida (state), Mérida, Maracaibo, and Barinas (state), Barinas, in accordance with successive territorial ordinations ...

(unattested) *Atapaima - once spoken at the mouth of the Guanaparo River,

Guárico State Guárico State (, ) is one of the 23 States of Venezuela, states of Venezuela. The state capital is San Juan de Los Morros and the largest city is Calabozo, other important city centers include Valle de la Pascua and Zaraza, Guárico, Zaraza. Gu ...

, Venezuela (unattested) *Guárico - extinct principal language

, once spoken on the

Guárico River Guárico River is a river in Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands ...

Portuguesa River The Portuguesa River (Spanish: ''Río Portuguesa'', also ''Río la Portuguesa'', ''Río de la Portuguesa'') is a river of Venezuela. It is part of the Orinoco River basin, and is a tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or rive ...

, and

(unattested) *Guire - once spoken on the middle course of the Tiznados River, Orituco River, and Guaritico River, Guarico State (unattested) *Payme - once spoken at the mouth of the

(unattested)

Dialect comparison

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Santa Rosa and San José dialects of Guamo. :

1778 word list

''Guama'' is primarily attested in a word list from 1778. The list has been reproduced below, with the original Spanish orthography maintained for the Guama forms.Anonymous. 1928 778 Traduccion de algunas voces de la lengua Guama. In ''Lenguas de América'', 382-393. Madrid.

References

Bibliography

* {{South American languages Indigenous languages of the South American Northeast Languages of Venezuela Extinct languages of South America Language isolates of South America