The Piaroa–Saliban, also known as Saliban (in
spanish : ''Sálivan''), are a small proposed
language family
A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...
of the middle
Orinoco Basin, which forms an independent island within an area of
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 ...
and
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
(northern ''llanos'') dominated by peoples of
Carib and
Arawakan affiliation.
Betoi may be related.
Languages
Piaroa and
Wirö (or "Maco") form a Piaroan branch of the family.
The extinct
Ature language, once spoken on the
Orinoco River
The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers approximately 1 million km2, with 65% of it in Venezuela and 35% in Colombia. It is the List of rivers by discharge, f ...
near the waterfalls of
Atures, Venezuela, is unattested but was said to be 'little different' from
Saliba, and so may have formed a Saliban branch of the family.
[
]
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Andoke–Urekena, Arawak, Máku, Tukano, and Yaruro language families due to contact.
External relations
Zamponi (2017) notes resemblances between the extinct Betoi language and Piaroa–Saliban. He considers a genealogical relationship plausible, though data on Betoi is scarce.[Zamponi, Raoul (2017). Betoi-Jirara, Sáliban, and Hodɨ: Relationships among Three Linguistic Lineages of the Mid-Orinoco Region. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', Volume 59, Number 3, Fall 2017, pp. 263-321.]
There are lexical similarities with the Hotï language (Jodï), and this has been interpreted as evidence for a Jodï–Saliban language family.[Labrada, Jorge Emilio Rosés. 2015. "Is Jodï a Sáliban Language?." Paper presented at the Workshop on Historical relationships among languages of the Americas, Leiden, 2-5 September 2015. 18pp.][
Jolkesky (2009) includes Piaroa-Saliba, Betoi and Hodi in a Duho family along with Ticuna–Yuri.]
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Piaroa–Saliban languages.
See also
* Duho languages
References
Bibliography
* Benaissa, T. (1991). Vocabulario Sáliba-Español Español Sáliba. Lomalinda: Alberto Lleras Camargo.
* Feddema, H. (1991). Diccionario Piaroa - Español. (Manuscript).
* Krute, L. D. (1989). Piaroa nominal morphosemantics. New York: Columbia University. (Doctoral dissertation).
* Kaufman, Terrence. (1990)
Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more.
In D. L. Payne (Ed.), ''Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages'' (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas 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.
External links
* PROEL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piaroa-Saliban languages
Jodi–Saliban languages