Yanam, or Ninam, is a
Yanomaman language spoken in
Roraima
Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...
,
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 ...
(800 speakers) and southern
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
near the
Mucajai, upper
Uraricaá, and
Paragua
''Marihuana prensada'' or ''cannabis prensado'' (pressed cannabis or marijuana), also known as ''ladrillo'' (brick weed) or, colloquially, ''paragua'' or ''paraguayo'' is a compressed cannabis (drug), cannabis cut into blocks that facilitate trans ...
rivers.
Synonymy
Yanam is also known by the following names: ''Ninam'', ''Yanam–Ninam'', ''Xirianá'', ''Shiriana Casapare'', ''Kasrapai'', ''Jawaperi'', ''Crichana'', ''Jawari'', ''Shiriana'', ''Eastern Yanomaman''.
Regional variation
Gordon (2009) reports 2 main
varieties
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
(Northern, Southern). Kaufman (1994) reports 3:
# Yanam ( Northern Yanam/Ninam (Xiliana, Shiriana, Uraricaa-Paragua))
# Ninam (a.k.a. Southern Yanam/Ninam (Xilixana, Shirishana, Mukajai))
# Jawarib
The name Jawari is shared with
Yaroamë.
There are three dialects spoken in
Roraima
Roraima (, ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Located in the country's North Region, it is the northernmost and most geographically and logistically isolated state in Brazil. It is bordered by the state of Pará to the southeast, Amazonas ...
, Brazil according to Ferreira, et al. (2019):
[Ferreira, Helder Perri; Machado, Ana Maria Antunes; Senra, Estevão Benfica. 2019. ]
As línguas Yanomami no Brasil: diversidade e vitalidade
'. São Paulo: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN). 216pp.
* Northern (''Xiriana''):
Ericó and Saúba
* Southern:
Mucajaí
Mucajaí () is a municipality located in the midwest of the state of Roraima in Brazil. Its population is 18,172 (2020) and its area is 12,461 km².
Mucajaí started as Colônia Agrícola Fernando Costa, an agricultural colony, in 1951. In 1 ...
* Central:
Uraricoera
The remaining speakers of
Arutani and
Sapé also speak Ninam (Shirián), since they now mostly live in Ninam villages.
Phonology
Yanam has seven base vowels. Yanam has both vowel length and nasalization, and both features can occur simultaneously, for all vowels except for /ɨ/.
References
* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. .
* Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), ''Atlas of the world's languages'' (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.
* Migliazza, Ernest; & Grimes, J. E. (1961). Shiriana phonology. ''Anthropological Linguistics''. (June).
External links
Ninam (Shirishana variety)(
Intercontinental Dictionary Series
The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is Bernard Comrie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary An ...
)
{{Languages of Venezuela
Yanomaman languages
Languages of Brazil
Languages of Venezuela
Subject–object–verb languages