Yanam, or Ninam, is a

Yanomaman Yanomaman, also as Yanomam, Yanomáman, Yamomámi, and Yanomamana (also Shamatari, Shirianan), is a family of languages spoken by about 20,000 Yanomami people in southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil (Roraima, Amazonas). Subdivision Fe ...

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 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 (a.k.a. Southern Yanam/Ninam (Xilixana, Shirishana, Mukajai)) # Jawarib The name Jawari is shared with Yaroamë. There are three dialects spoken in

, 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 Uraricoera River (Uraricuera) is a river of Roraima state in northern Brazil. The confluence of the Uraricoera and Takutu Rivers forms the Branco River The Branco River ( pt, Rio Branco; Engl: ''White River'') is the principal affluent of t ...

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 A ...

) {{Languages of Venezuela Yanomaman languages Languages of Brazil Languages of Venezuela Subject–object–verb languages