Yao language (Cariban)

Last updated
Yao
Jaoi
Yebarana
Native to Trinidad, French Guiana
EthnicityYao
Era17th century
Cariban
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Glottolog yaoa1239
Languages of the Caribbean.png
  Yao

Yao (Jaoi, Yaoi, Yaio, "Anacaioury") was a Cariban language that was spoken in Trinidad and French Guiana up until its extinction in the 17th century. The language was attested in a single 1640 word list recorded by Joannes de Laet. It is thought that the Yao people migrated from the Orinoco to the islands perhaps a century earlier, after the Kaliña. [1] The name 'Anacaioury' is that of a number of chiefs encountered over a century or so.

Contents

Classification

Yao is too poorly attested to classify within Cariban with any confidence, though Terrence Kaufman links it to the extinct Tiverikoto. [2]

Vocabulary

A few of the attested words are: nonna or noene 'moon', weyo 'sun', capou 'light', chirika 'star', pepeïte 'wind', kenape 'rain', soye 'earth', parona 'sea', ouapoto 'fire', aroua 'jaguar', pero 'dog'. [3]

References

  1. ↑ Tassinari (2003) No Bom da Festa, p 122–125
  2. ↑ Kaufman, Terrence (1994). Moseley, Christopher; Asher, R.E. (eds.). Atlas of the World's Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 73–74. ISBN   0-415-01925-7.
  3. ↑ Taylor, Douglas MacRae (1977). Languages of the West Indies. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   978-0801817298.


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