Piapoco language: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Endangered Arawakan language of South America}}

|glottorefname=Piapoco

|glottorefname2=Ponares

|map=Piapoco.png

== History ==

'''Piapoco''' is a branch of the [[Arawakan languages|Arawak language]], which also includes Achagua and Tariana.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> Piapoco is considered a Northern Arawak language.<ref name="auto">{{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}}</ref> There are only about 3,000 Piapoco speakers left today. These people live in the Meta, Vichada, and Guaviare rivers in Colombia<ref name="auto1">{{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 }}</ref> Piapoco speakers also reside in Venezuela.<ref name="auto5">{{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}}</ref> It is an endangered language.<ref name="auto5"/>

== Geography/Background ==

The Piapocos come from the larger tribe, the [[Piaroa people|Piaroa]], who are indigenous to the Amazon rain forest.<ref>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 }}</ref> The Piapoco people originally lived in the midsection of Rio Guaviare, later moving in the 18th century to avoid settlers, missionaries, and others.<ref name="auto2">Flowers, N. M. (n.d.). Piapoco. Retrieved March 09, 2017, from <nowiki>http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Piapoco.html</nowiki></ref>

== Grammar ==

A Piapoco-Spanish dictionary containing 2,500 words was written by Deloris Klumpp, in which botanical identification of plants were captured, although not all.<ref name="auto"/> 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.<ref name="auto"/> Piapoco is unique in that it seems to be a nominative-accusative language.<ref name="auto"/> There are eighteen segmental phonemes, fourteen consonant and four vowels in the Piapoco language.<ref name="auto3">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 }}.</ref>

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! colspan="2" |

![[Labial consonant|Labial]]

![[Dental consonant|Dental]]

![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]

![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]

![[Velar consonant|Velar]]

![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]

|-

! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]

|{{IPA link|m}}

|

|{{IPA link|n}}

|

|

|

|-

! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]

!<small>voiceless</small>

|{{IPA link|p}}

|

|{{IPA link|t}}

|

|{{IPA link|k}}

|

|-

![[Voice (phonetics)|<small>voiced</small>]]

|{{IPA link|b}}

|

|{{IPA link|d}}

|

|

|

|-

! colspan="2" |[[Affricate]]

|

|

|{{IPA link|ts}}

|

|

|

|-

! colspan="2" |[[Fricative]]

|

|{{IPA link|s̪}} ~ {{IPA link|θ}}

|

|

|

|{{IPA link|h}}

|-

! colspan="2" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]]

|

|

|{{IPA link|r}}

|

|

|

|-

! colspan="2" |[[Approximant]]

|{{IPA link|w}}

|

|{{IPA link|l}}

|{{IPA link|j}}

|

|

|}

* /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 ===

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!

![[Front vowel|Front]]

![[Back vowel|Back]]

|-

![[Close vowel|High]]

|{{IPA link|i}}

|{{IPA link|u}}

|-

![[Mid vowel|Low]]

|{{IPA link|e}}

|{{IPA link|a}}

|}

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

== Bilingualism ==

The word Piapoco is a Spanish nickname in reference to the toucan.<ref name="auto1"/> Most Piapoco also speak Spanish.<ref name="auto2"/> Speakers who have had less contact with Spanish speakers more often pronounce the phoneme "s" as a voiceless interdental fricative.<ref name="auto3"/> Younger speakers of the Piapoco language tend to eliminate the "h" more than older speakers due to their contact with the Spanish language.<ref name="auto3"/>

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.<ref name="auto4">{{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}}</ref> This allows for a gradual convergence, where grammar and semantics of one language begin to replicate the other.<ref name="auto4"/>

* {{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}}