Jirajaran languages
Language family of western Venezuela
title: "Jirajaran languages" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["jirajaran-languages", "languages-of-venezuela", "extinct-languages-of-south-america", "language-families"] description: "Language family of western Venezuela" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jirajaran_languages" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Language family of western Venezuela ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language family"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Jirajaran |
| altname | Hiraháran |
| region | Western Venezuela |
| familycolor | American |
| family | One of the world's primary language families |
| child1 | Jirajara |
| child2 | Ayomán |
| child3 | Gayón |
| glotto | jira1235 |
| glottorefname | Jirajaran |
| map | Jirajara.png |
| mapcaption | Pre-contact distribution of the Jirajaran languages |
| extinct | early 20th century |
| :: |
| name = Jirajaran | altname = Hiraháran | region = Western Venezuela | familycolor = American | family = One of the world's primary language families | child1 = Jirajara | child2 = Ayomán | child3 = Gayón | glotto = jira1235 | glottorefname = Jirajaran | map = Jirajara.png | mapcaption = Pre-contact distribution of the Jirajaran languages | extinct = early 20th century
The Jirajaran languages are group of extinct languages once spoken in western Venezuela in the regions of Falcón and Lara. All of the Jirajaran languages appear to have become extinct in the early 20th century.{{cite book |last=Adelaar |first=Willem F. H. |author2=Pieter C. Muysken |title=The Languages of the Andes |url=https://archive.org/details/languagesandesca00adel |url-access=limited |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-36275-X |pages=129–30
Languages
Based on adequate documentation, three languages are definitively classified as belonging to the Jirajaran family:
- Jirajara, spoken in the state of Falcón
- Ayomán, spoken in the village of Siquisique in the state of Lara
- Gayón, spoken at the sources of the Tocuyo River in the state of Lara
Loukotka includes four additional languages, for which no linguistic documentation exists:{{cite book | last = Loukotka | first = Čestmír | author-link = Čestmír Loukotka | title = Classification of South American Indian Languages | url = https://archive.org/details/classificationof0007louk | url-access = registration | publisher = UCLA Latin American Center | year = 1968 | location = Los Angeles | pages = 254–5}}
- Coyone, spoken at the sources of the Portuguesa River in the state of Portuguesa, sometimes considered a synonym for Gayon
- Cuiba, spoken near the city of Aricagua
- Atatura, spoken between the Rocono and Tucupido rivers
- Aticari, spoken along the Tocuyo River
Mason (1950) lists:
- Gayón (Cayon)
- Ayomán
- Xagua (not to be confused with Achawa language)
- Cuiba (?)
- Jirajara
Classification
The Jirajaran languages are generally regarded as isolates. Adelaar and Muysken note certain lexical similarities with the Timotean languages and typological similarity to the Chibchan languages, but state that the data is too limited to make a definitive classification. Jahn, among others, has suggested a relation between the Jirajaran language and the Betoi languages, mostly on the basis of similar ethnonyms.{{cite book |last=Jahn |first=Alfredo |title=Los Aborígenes del Occidente de Venezuela |orig-year=1927 |year=1973 |publisher=Monte Avila Editores, C.A. |location=Caracas |language=es}} Greenberg and Ruhlen classify Jirajaran as belonging to the Paezan language family, along with the Betoi languages, the Páez language, the Barbacoan languages and others.{{Cite web |last1=Greenberg |first1=Joseph |author-link1=Joseph Greenberg |last2=Ruhlen |first2=Merritt |author2-link=Merritt Ruhlen |title=An Amerind Etymological Dictionary |url=http://www.merrittruhlen.com/files/AED5.pdf |access-date=2008-06-27 |edition=12 |date=2007-09-04 |publisher=Dept. of Anthropological Sciences Stanford University |location=Stanford |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225141018/http://www.merrittruhlen.com/files/AED5.pdf |archive-date=2010-12-25 |url-status=dead
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Sape, Timote-Kuika, and Puinave-Kak language families due to contact.
Typology
Based on the little documentation that exists, a number of typological characteristics are reconstructable:{{cite book |last=Costenla Umaña |first=Adolfo |title=Las Lenguas del Área Intermedia: Introducción a su Estudio Areal |date=May 1991 |publisher=Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica |location=San José |language=es |isbn=9977-67-158-3 |pages=56–8}}
;1. VO word order in transitive clauses |apasi mamán |c1=(Jirajara) |I.cut my.hand |'I cut my hand'}}
;2. Subjects precede verbs |depamilia buratá |c1=(Ayamán) |the.family is.good |'The family is good'}}
;3. Possessors which precede the possessed |shpashiú yemún |c1=(Ayamán) |arc its.rope |'the arc of the rope'}}
;4. Adjectives follow the nouns they modify |pok diú |c1=(Jirajara) |hill big |'big hill'}}
;5. Numerals precede the nouns they quantify |boque soó |c1=(Ayamán) |one cigarette |'one cigarette'}}
;6. Use of postpositions, rather than prepositions |angüi fru-ye |c1=(Jirajara) |I.go Siquisique-to |'I go to Siquisique.'}}
Vocabulary comparison
Jahn (1927) lists the following basic vocabulary items.
:{|class="wikitable sortable"
| +Comparison of Jirajaran vocabulary, based on Jahn (1927) |
|---|
| !width="75" |
| !width="75" |
| !width="75" |
| !width="75" |
| - |
| fire |
| - |
| foot |
| - |
| hen |
| - |
| house |
| - |
| snake |
| - |
| sun |
| } |
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.
:{|class="wikitable sortable" |+Comparison of Jirajaran vocabulary, based on Loukotka (1968) ! gloss !! Jirajara !! Ayomán !! Gayón |- | one || || bógha || |- | two || || auyí || |- | three || || mongañá || |- | head || a-ktegi || a-tógh || is-tóz |- | ear || a-uñán || a-kivóugh || himigui |- | tooth || || a-king || |- | man || iyít || yúsh || yus |- | water || ing || ing || guayí |- | fire || dueg || dug || dut |- | sun || yuaú || iñ || yivat |- | maize || dos || dosh || dosivot |- | bird || || chiskua || chiskua |- | house || gagap || gagap || hiyás |}
References
References
- Mason, John Alden. (1950). "Handbook of South American Indians". [[Smithsonian Institution]], [[Bureau of American Ethnology]] Bulletin 143.
- Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery. (2016). "Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas". University of Brasília.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::