Piro is a Maipurean language spoken in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. It belongs to the Piro group which also includes

Iñapari Iñapari is a Peruvian village capital of the Tahuamanu Province in the Madre de Dios Region, located on the triple border of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru. It is connected to Brazil by the Brazil-Peru Integration Bridge, an international bridge cr ...

(†) and Apurinã. The principal variety is Yine. The Manchineri who live in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

( Acre) and reportedly also in Bolivia speak what may be a dialect of Yine (Aikhenvald, Kaufman). A vocabulary labeled ''Canamaré'' is "so close to Piro

ine INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instituto Nacional de Estadística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional de Estatística (disambiguation) * Instituto Nacional Elec ...

as to count as Piro", but has been a cause of confusion with the unrelated Kanamarí language.

Names

This language is also called Contaquiro, Pira, Piro, Pirro, Simiranch, or Simirinche. ''Cushichineri'' has been reported as a language, but is actually a family name used with Whites (Matteson 1965). The name ''Mashco'' has sometimes been incorrectly applied to the Yine. (See

Mashco Piro The Mashco-Piro or Mascho Piro, also known as the Cujareño people and Nomole, are an indigenous tribe of nomadic hunter-gatherers who inhabit the remote regions of the Amazon rainforest. They live in Manú National Park in the Madre de Dios Re ...

Varieties

Extinct varieties of Piro (Yine): *Chontaquiro (Simirinche, Upatarinavo):

Ucayali River The Ucayali River ( es, Río Ucayali, ) is the main headstream of the Amazon River. It rises about north of Lake Titicaca, in the Arequipa region of Peru and becomes the Amazon at the confluence of the Marañón close to Nauta city. The city of ...

*Manchineri (Manatinavo):

Purus River The Purus River (Portuguese: ''Rio Purus''; Spanish: ''Río Purús'') is a tributary of the Amazon River in South America. Its drainage basin is , and the mean annual discharge is . The river shares its name with the Alto Purús National Park and ...

* Kushichineri (Kuxiti-neri, Kujigeneri, Cusitinavo): upper

in Peru (in 1886, spoken on the Curumahá River or Curanja River, and probably also on the Cujar River) * Kuniba (Kunibo):

Juruá River The Juruá River (Portuguese ''Rio Juruá''; Spanish ''Río Yuruá'') is a southern affluent river of the Amazon River west of the Purus River, sharing with this the bottom of the immense inland Amazon depression, and having all the characteristic ...

* Katukina:

. Documented by Natterer (1833). Not to be confused with the unrelated Katukina language. * Canamare (Canamirim, Canamary):

Iaco River Iaco River is a river of Acre and Amazonas states in western Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Acre *List of rivers of Amazonas (Brazilian state) List of rivers in Amazonas (Brazilian State). The list is arranged by drainage basin, with ...

, a tributary of the

. Documented by Spix (1819). Not to be confused with the unrelated Kanamarí language. *Mashco-Piro:

Madre de Dios River The Madre de Dios River () is a river shared by Bolivia and Peru which is homonymous to the Peruvian region it runs through. On Bolivian territory it receives the Beni River, close to the town of Riberalta, which later joins with the Mamore Rive ...

Demographics

As of 2000, essentially all of the 4,000 ethnic

Yine people The Yine (also Piro) are an indigenous people in Peru. In the Cusco, Loreto, and Ucayali Departments, they live along the Urubamba River. They live along the Madre de Dios River in the Madre de Dios Department. Name Besides Yine, they are also ...

speak the language. They live in the

Ucayali The Ucayali River ( es, Río Ucayali, ) is the main headstream of the Amazon River. It rises about north of Lake Titicaca, in the Arequipa region of Peru and becomes the Amazon at the confluence of the Marañón close to Nauta city. The city ...

and Cusco Departments, near the

, and near the

in the

Madre de Dios Region Madre de Dios (, en, Mother of God) is a department and region in southeastern Peru, bordering Brazil, Bolivia and the Peruvian departments of Puno, Cusco and Ucayali, in the Amazon Basin. Its capital is the city of Puerto Maldonado. It is als ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. Literacy is comparatively high. A dictionary has been published in the language and the language is taught alongside

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

in some Yine schools. There are also a thousand speakers of Machinere.

Phonology

Vowels

* Vowels are nasalized after .

Consonants

*/w/ is heard as a bilabial approximant when before a close vowel. */n/ is heard as before /k/. */ɾ/ can be trilled when in word-initial position.

Syntax

Piro has an active–stative syntax.Aikhenvald, "Arawak", in Dixon & Aikhenvald, eds., ''The Amazonian Languages'', 1999.

Notes

References

* * Matteson, Esther. (1965). ''The Piro (Arawakan) language''. University of California Publications in Linguistics, 42. Berkeley y Los Angeles: University of California Press. (Es la tesis para doctorado presentada en 1963 a la University of California, Los Angeles.) * Nies, Joyce, compilador. (1986). ''Diccionario piro (Tokanchi gikshijikowaka-steno''). Serie Lingüística Peruana, 22. Yarinacocha: Ministerio de Educación and Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. * Parker, Stephen. (1989). "Un análisis métrico del acento en el piro". ''Estudios etno-lingüísticos'', Stephen Parker (ed.), pp. 114–125. Documento de trabajo 21. Yarinacocha, Pucallpa: Ministerio de Educación e Instituto Lingüístico de Verano. * Solís Fonseca, Gustavo. (2003). ''Lenguas en la amazonía peruana''. Lima: edición por demanda. * * Urquía Sebastián, Rittma. (2006). Yine
''Ilustraciones fonéticas de lenguas amerindias''
ed. Stephen A. Marlett. Lima: SIL International and Universidad Ricardo Palma. * * Urquía Sebastián, Rittma and Wagner Urquía Sebastián. (2009)
''Diccionario yine–castellano''
* Arawakan languages Languages of Peru Mamoré–Guaporé linguistic area {{Arawakan-lang-stub