Yanam, or Ninam, is a Yanomaman language spoken in Roraima, Brazil (800 speakers) and southern Venezuela near the Mucajai, upper Uraricaá, and Paragua rivers.
| Yanam | |
|---|---|
| Ninam | |
| Native to | Brazil, Venezuela |
Native speakers | 470 in Brazil (2012)[1] 560 in Venezuela (2010) (excluding Yaroamë)[1] |
Yanomam
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | shb |
| Glottolog | nina1238 |
| ELP | Ninam |
 | |
Synonymy
editYanam is also known by the following names: Ninam, Yanam–Ninam, Xirianá, Shiriana Casapare, Kasrapai, Jawaperi, Crichana, Jawari, Shiriana, Eastern Yanomaman.
Regional variation
editGordon (2009) reports 2 main varieties (Northern, Southern). Kaufman (1994) reports 3:
- Yanam (a.k.a. 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 Roraima, Brazil according to Ferreira, et al. (2019):[2]
- 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.[3][4]
Phonology
editYanam has seven base vowels. Yanam has both vowel length and nasalization, and both features can occur simultaneously, for all vowels except for /ɨ/.[5]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Open | a |
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | aspirated | |||||
| Stop | p | t | tʰ | k | ||
| Affricate | t͡ʃ | |||||
| Fricative | s | ʃ | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ||||
| Approximant | j | |||||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||
References
edit- ^ a b Yanam at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ 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. ISBN 978-85-8226-076-0
- ^ Rosés Labrada, Jorge Emilio, Thiago Chacon & Francia Medina. 2020. Arutani (Venezuela and Brazil) – Language Snapshot. In Peter K. Austin (ed.) Language Documentation and Description 17, 170-177. London: EL Publishing.
- ^ Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada & Francia Medina (2019). Sapé (Venezuela) — Language Snapshot. In Peter K. Austin (ed.) Language Documentation and Description, vol 16. London: EL Publishing. pp. 169-175.
- ^ "SAPhon – South American Phonological Inventories". linguistics.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
- Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
- 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
edit- Ninam (Shirishana variety) (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)
- Portal Japiim (online dictionary)