The Cariban languages are a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of languages indigenous to northeastern
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the
Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile.
The headwaters of t ...
to the
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
n
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
, and they are also spoken in small pockets of central Brazil. The languages of the Cariban family are relatively closely related. There are about three dozen, but most are spoken only by a few hundred people.
Macushi
The Macushi ( pt, Macuxi) are an indigenous people living in the borderlands of southern Guyana, northern Brazil in the state of Roraima, and in an eastern part of Venezuela.
Identification
The Macushi are also known as the Macusi, Macussi, ...
is the only language among them with numerous speakers, estimated at 30,000. The Cariban family is well known among linguists partly because one language in the family—
Hixkaryana
Hixkaryana is one of the Cariban languages, spoken by just over 500 people on the Nhamundá River, a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil. It is one of around a dozen languages that are described as having object–verb–subject word order ...
—has a default
word order
In linguistics, word order (also known as linear order) is the order of the syntactic constituents of a language. Word order typology studies it from a cross-linguistic perspective, and examines how different languages employ different orders. C ...
of
object–verb–subject. Previous to their discovery of this, linguists believed that this order did not exist in any spoken
natural language
In neuropsychology, linguistics, and philosophy of language, a natural language or ordinary language is any language that has evolved naturally in humans through use and repetition without conscious planning or premeditation. Natural languages ...
.
In the 16th century, Cariban peoples expanded into the
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...
. There they killed or displaced, and also mixed with the
Arawak peoples who already inhabited the islands. The resulting language—
Kalhíphona or Island Carib—was Carib in name but largely Arawak in substance. The Carib male conquerors took Arawak women as wives, and the latter passed on their own language on to the children. For a time, Arawak was spoken by women and children and Carib by adult men, but as each generation of Carib-Arawak boys reached adulthood, they acquired less Carib until only basic vocabulary and a few grammatical elements were left. That form of
Island Carib
The Kalinago, also known as the Island Caribs or simply Caribs, are an indigenous people of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. They may have been related to the Mainland Caribs (Kalina) of South America, but they spoke an unrelated languag ...
became extinct in the
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe ...
in the 1920s, but it survives as
Garífuna
The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and indigenous American ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language, and Vincentian Cr ...
, or "Black Carib," in
Central America
Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...
. The gender distinction has dwindled to only a handful of words.
Dominica
Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...
is the only island in the eastern
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
to retain some of its
pre-Columbian
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...
population, descendants of the
Carib Indians, about 3,000 of whom live on the island's east coast.
Genetic relations
The Cariban languages share irregular morphology with the
Ge and
Tupi families. Ribeiro connects them all in a
Je–Tupi–Carib family. Meira, Gildea, & Hoff (2010) note that likely morphemes in proto-Tupian and proto-Cariban are good candidates for being cognates, but that work so far is insufficient to make definitive statements.
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the
Guato,
Kawapana,
Nambikwara
The Nambikwara (also called Nambikuára) is an indigenous people of Brazil, living in the Amazon. Currently about 1,200 Nambikwara live in indigenous territories in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso along the Guaporé and Juruena rivers. Thei ...
,
Taruma,
Warao,
Arawak
The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Great ...
,
Bororo
The Bororo are indigenous people of Brazil, living in the state of Mato Grosso. They also extended into Bolivia and the Brazilian state of Goiás. The Western Bororo live around the Jauru and Cabaçal rivers. The Eastern Bororo ( Orarimogodoge ...
,
Jeoromitxi,
Karaja,
Rikbaktsa
The Rikbaktsa are an Indigenous peoples in Brazil, indigenous ethnic group from the Mato Grosso region of Brazil.
Name
''Rikbaktsa'' (Rikbaktsa ''rik'', person + ''bak'', human being + ''tsa'' lural suffix, the group's self-denomination, can ...
, and
Tupi language families due to contact.
Extensive lexical similarities between Cariban and various
Macro-Jê languages
Macro-Jê (also spelled Macro-Gê) is a medium-sized language stock in South America, mostly in Brazil but also in the Chiquitanía region in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as well as (formerly) in small parts of Argentina and Paraguay. It is centered o ...
suggest that Cariban languages had originated in the
Lower Amazon
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile.
The headwaters of t ...
region (rather than in the
Guiana Highlands
The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories:
* French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France
* ...
). There they were in contact with early forms of Macro-Jê languages, which were likely spoken in an area between the
Parecis Plateau and upper
Araguaia River.
Family division
The Cariban languages are closely related. In many cases where one of the languages is more distinct, this is due to influence from neighboring languages rather than an indication that it is not closely related. According to Kaufman (2007), "Except for Opon, Yukpa, Pimenteira and Palmela (and possibly Panare), the Cariban languages are not very diverse phonologically and lexically (though more so than Romance, for example)."
[Kaufman, Terrence. 2007. "South America". In: R. E. Asher and Christopher Moseley (eds.), ''Atlas of the World’s Languages'' (2nd edition), 59–94. London: Routledge.]
Previous classifications
Good data has been collected around ca. 2000 on most Cariban languages; classifications prior to that time (including Kaufman 2007, which relies on the earlier work) are unreliable.
Several such classifications have been published; the one shown here, by Derbyshire (1999) divides Cariban into seven branches. A traditional geographic classification into northern and southern branches is cross referenced with (N) or (S) after each language.
*
Galibi
The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America. Today, the Kalina live largely in villages on the rivers and coasts of Venezuela, ...
/nowiki>Kaliña.html"_;"title="Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña">Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña/nowiki>_(N)
*Guiana_Carib_( /nowiki>Kaliña.html"_;"title="Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña">Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña/nowiki>_(N)
*Guiana_Carib_(Taranoan_languages">Taranoan):_
**Trio:_ /nowiki>Kaliña.html"_;"title="Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña">Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña/nowiki>_(N)
*Guiana_Carib_(Taranoan_languages">Taranoan):_
**Trio:_Tiriyó_language">Tiriyó– /nowiki>Kaliña.html"_;"title="Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña">Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña/nowiki>_(N)
*Guiana_Carib_(Taranoan_languages">Taranoan):_
**Trio:_Tiriyó_language">Tiriyó–Akuriyó_language">Akuriyó,_/nowiki>Kaliña.html"_;"title="Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña">Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña/nowiki>_(N)
*Guiana_Carib_(Taranoan_languages">Taranoan):_
**Trio:_Tiriyó_language">Tiriyó–Akuriyó_language">Akuriyó,_ Salumá_(N),_Carijona_language.html"__"title="Salumá_language.html"_;"title="Akuriyó_language.html"_;"title="Tiriyó_language.html"_;"title="Taranoan_languages.html"_;"title="Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña.html"_;"title="Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña">Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña/nowiki>_(N)
*Guiana_Carib_(Taranoan_languages">Taranoan):_
**Trio:_Tiriyó_language">Tiriyó–Akuriyó_language">Akuriyó,_Salumá_language">Salumá_(N),_Carijona_language">Carijona_Carijona_are_a_South_American_indigenous_group_known_for_the_Carijona_language._They_numbered_in_the_thousands_in_the_1840s,_but_war_with_the__Witotoans_and_exploitation_from_the_rubber_industry_led_to_virtual_extinction._Some_live_among_the__Correg_...
–Salumá_(N),_Carijona_language.html"__"title="Salumá_language.html"_;"title="Akuriyó_language.html"_;"title="Tiriyó_language.html"_;"title="Taranoan_languages.html"_;"title="Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña
.html"_;"title="Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña">Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña/nowiki>_(N)
*Guiana_Carib_(Taranoan_languages">Taranoan):_
**Trio:_Tiriyó_language">Tiriyó–Akuriyó_language">Akuriyó,_Salumá_language">Salumá_(N),_Carijona_language">Carijona_Carijona_are_a_South_American_indigenous_group_known_for_the_Carijona_language._They_numbered_in_the_thousands_in_the_1840s,_but_war_with_the__Witotoans_and_exploitation_from_the_rubber_industry_led_to_virtual_extinction._Some_live_among_the__Correg_...
–Hianákoto_language">Hianákoto_(S)
**Kashuyana:_ Salumá_(N),_Carijona_language.html"__"title="Salumá_language.html"_;"title="Akuriyó_language.html"_;"title="Tiriyó_language.html"_;"title="Taranoan_languages.html"_;"title="Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña.html"_;"title="Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña">Kaliña.html"_;"title="/nowiki>Kaliña">/nowiki>Kaliña/nowiki>_(N)
*Guiana_Carib_(Taranoan_languages">Taranoan):_
**Trio:_Tiriyó_language">Tiriyó–Akuriyó_language">Akuriyó,_Salumá_language">Salumá_(N),_Carijona_language">Carijona_Carijona_are_a_South_American_indigenous_group_known_for_the_Carijona_language._They_numbered_in_the_thousands_in_the_1840s,_but_war_with_the__Witotoans_and_exploitation_from_the_rubber_industry_led_to_virtual_extinction._Some_live_among_the__Correg_...