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 t ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
(800 speakers) and southern
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
near the
Mucajai, upper
Uraricaá, and
Paragua 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 (Northern, Southern). Kaufman (1994) reports 3:
# Yanam ( Northern Yanam/Ninam (Xiliana, Shiriana, Uraricaa-Paragua))
# Ninam ( Southern Yanam/Ninam (Xilixana, Shirishana, Mukajai))
# Jawarib
The name Jawari is shared with
Ỹaroamë.
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 t ...
, 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
* 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 ...
)
Portal Japiim(online dictionary)
{{Languages of Venezuela
Yanomaman languages
Languages of Brazil
Languages of Venezuela
Subject–object–verb languages