Araona or Cavina is an indigenous language spoken by the
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 sout ...
Araona people
The Araona people are an ethnic group in Bolivia. Their population was 228 according to the 2012 census. Their language is the Araona language which is spoken by 711 people although many speak Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or relat ...
; about 90% of the 90 Araona people are fluent (W. Adelaar). Use of the language amongst the tribe is considered vigorous although
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 ...
knowledge is increasing. The Araonans live in the headwaters of the Manupari river in northwest
Bolivia. Their language has a dictionary and portions of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
have been translated into Araona.
Capachene and Machui are dialects of either Araona or of
Cavineña.
History
The Araona people and their language were long ignored in the written, European-based historical traditions, long after the
Conquest of the Americas and what is now Bolivia. The first written historical mention of the Araona people and their language comes from the Franciscan missionaries Manuel Mancini and Fidel Codenach in the late 1800s, were unable to found any sort of mission in this area of the La Paz department because of the conditions on the ground. The Araona were the most populous ethnic group in the region of Colonia Nacional, and were one of the many indigenous groups who were displaced from their villages and used as slaves for the rubber industry at the end of the 19th century. Those who managed to survive and escape from servitude went on to establish themselves in various settlements in the area between the Manorimi and Monopare Rivers. In 1965, Protestant Evangelical activists and missionaries from the ''
SIL International'' created a permanent settlement and cooperated with the Araona communities to establish links with other indigenous groups.
Phonology
The Araona
phonemic
In phonology and linguistics, a phoneme () is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a particular language.
For example, in most dialects of English, with the notable exception of the West Midlands and the north-west ...
inventory consists of four vowels (, , , ), and 19 consonants.
References
External links
Lenguas de Bolivia(online edition)
Araona(
Intercontinental Dictionary Series)
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Languages of Bolivia
La Paz Department (Bolivia)
Tacanan languages