Betoi (''Betoy'') or Betoi-Jirara is an extinct language of

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

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 ...

, south of the

Apure River The Apure River is a river of southwestern Venezuela, formed by the confluence of the Sarare and Uribante near Guasdualito, in Venezuela, at , and flowing across the Llanos into the Orinoco. It provides significant transportation in the area. Orig ...

near the modern border with Colombia. The names Betoi and Jirara are those of two of its peoples/dialects; the language proper has no known name. At contact, Betoi was a local

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

spoken between the Uribante and Sarare rivers and along the Arauca. Enough was recorded for a brief grammatical monograph to be written (Zamponi 2003).

Classification

Betoi is generally seen as an isolate, though Kaufman (2007) included it in

Macro-Paesan Macro-Paesan (also spelled Macro-Paezan) is a proposal linking several small families and language isolates of northwest South America. Kaufman (2007) proposes the structure at the right. Paez–Barbacoan is commonly proposed, though Curnow (1998 ...

. Zamponi (2017) finds enough lexical resemblances between Betoi and the Saliban languages to conclude that a genealogical relationship is plausible.Zamponi, Raoul (2017). Betoi-Jirara, Sáliban, and Hod i: Relationships among Three Linguistic Lineages of the Mid-Orinoco Region. ''Anthropological Linguistics'', Volume 59, Number 3, Fall 2017, pp. 263-321.

Varieties

Below is a full list of Betoi varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties. *Betoi / Guanero / Isabaco - extinct language once spoken on the

Casanare River Casanare River () is a river in Colombia. It is part of the Orinoco River basin. See also *List of rivers of Colombia Atlantic Ocean Amazon River Basin * Amazon River ** Guainía River or Negro River *** Vaupés River or Uaupés River *** ...

Cravo Norte River Cravo Norte River is a river of Colombia. It is part of the Orinoco River basin. See also *List of rivers of Colombia Atlantic Ocean Amazon River Basin * Amazon River ** Guainía River or Negro River *** Vaupés River or Uaupés River *** ...

, and

, Arauca territory, Colombia. *Situfa / Cituja - extinct language once spoken on the

in the Arauca region. *Airico - once spoken at the sources of the

Manacacías River Manacacías River is a river of Colombia. It is part of the Orinoco River basin. See also *List of rivers of Colombia Atlantic Ocean Amazon River Basin * Amazon River ** Guainía River or Negro River *** Vaupés River or Uaupés River *** ...

. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 2, pp. 243-247, only a few words.) *Jirara - spoken once in the upper

region. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 1, pp. 201 and 203, pt. 2, pp. 16 and 328, only a few words and phrases.) *Atabaca - once spoken in the upper

region. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 2, p. 274, only a few words.) *Lolaca - once spoken on the confluence of the

Arauca River The Arauca River ( es, Río Arauca) rises in the Andes Mountains of north-central Colombia and ends at the Orinoco in Venezuela. For part of its run it is the boundary between Colombia and Venezuela. The major city on its banks is Arauca, Col ...

and

Chitagá Chitagá () is a Colombian municipality and town located in the department of North Santander North Santander (Spanish: Norte de Santander) () is a departments of Colombia, department of Northeastern Colombia. It is in the north of the count ...

River. (Unattested.) *Quilifay - once spoken around the confluence of the

and

River. (Unattested.) *Anabali - spoken south of the Atabaca tribe around the confluence of the

and

River. (Unattested.) *Ele - spoken on the Ele River. (Unattested.)

Lexicon

Lexicon of Betoi compiled by Zamponi (2003) from various sources:Zamponi, Raoul. 2003. ''Betoi''. Languages of the World, 428. München: Lincom Europa.

Nouns

Verbs

Adverbs

Pronouns

Other parts of speech

References

Bibliography

* * {{authority control Language isolates of South America Extinct languages of South America Languages extinct in the 18th century Languages of Venezuela Macro-Paesan languages