Tinigua (''Tiniguas'') is an
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
Tiniguan language spoken in
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
which used to form a small language family with the now extinct
Pamigua language.
Final speakers
As of 2000, Tinigua had only two remaining speakers, Sixto Muñoz (Tinigua name: ''Sɨsɨthio'' ‘knife’) and his brother, Criterio. Criterio died around 2005, leaving behind Sixto as the last remaining speaker of Tinigua. Formerly a resident of the Serranía
de la Macarena in
Meta Department
Meta () is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known ...
, Sixto Muñoz currently resides in Jiw village of Barrancón, near the main town of
Guaviare Department
Guaviare () is a departments of Colombia, department of Colombia. It is in the southern central region of the country. Its capital is San José del Guaviare. Guaviare was created on July 4, 1991, by the new Colombian Constitution, Political Const ...
.
They lived in
Meta Department
Meta () is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known ...
, between the Upper Guayabero and Yari rivers.
Muñoz also speaks Spanish and is thought to have been born somewhere from 1924-1929. He has five children, but he chose not to teach them Tinigua because they would not have any use for it.
Below is a comparison of Tinigua forms elicited from Sixto Muñoz in 2019 compared with Tinigua and Pamigua words recorded in Castellví (1940).
[Castellví, F. Marcelino de. 1940. La lengua tinigua. ''Journal de la Société des Americanistes de Paris'' 32. 93–101.]
:
References
Further reading
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Tiniguan languages
Endangered languages
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