Yao language (Trinidad)

Yao
Yao
Jaoi
Yebarana
Native to	Trinidad, French Guiana
Ethnicity	Yao
Era	17th century
Language family	Cariban Venezuelan Carib (unclassified) Yao; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	yaoa1239
Linguasphere	80-AEC-ba
	Yao

Yao (Jaoi, Yaoi, Yaio, Anacaioury) was a Cariban language that was spoken in Trinidad and French Guiana up until its extinction in the 17th century. The language was attested in a single 1640 word list recorded by Joannes de Laet. It is thought that the Yao people migrated from the Orinoco to the islands perhaps a century earlier, after the Kaliña.^[1]^{: 122–125} The name Anacaioury is that of a number of chiefs encountered over a century or so.

Classification

Yao is too poorly attested to classify within Cariban with any confidence, though Terrence Kaufman links it to the extinct Tiverikoto.^[2]

Vocabulary

A few of the attested words are: nonna or noene 'moon', weyo 'sun', capou 'light', chirika 'star', pepeïte 'wind', kenape 'rain', soye 'earth', parona 'sea', ouapoto 'fire', aroua 'jaguar', pero 'dog' (from Spanish).^[3]

References

↑ Tassinari, Antonella Maria Imperatriz (2003). No bom da festa: o processo de construção cultural das famílias karipuna do Amapá (in Brazilian Portuguese). EdUSP. ISBN 978-85-314-0722-2.
↑ Kaufman, Terrence (1994). Moseley, Christopher; Asher, R.E. (eds.). Atlas of the World's Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 73–74. ISBN 0-415-01925-7.
↑ Taylor, Douglas MacRae (1977). Languages of the West Indies. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801817298.

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[1] Tassinari, Antonella Maria Imperatriz (2003). No bom da festa: o processo de construção cultural das famílias karipuna do Amapá (in Brazilian Portuguese). EdUSP. ISBN 978-85-314-0722-2.

[2] Kaufman, Terrence (1994). Moseley, Christopher; Asher, R.E. (eds.). Atlas of the World's Languages. New York: Routledge. pp. 73–74. ISBN 0-415-01925-7.

[3] Taylor, Douglas MacRae (1977). Languages of the West Indies. The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0801817298.

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v t e Languages of Trinidad and Tobago
Official language	English
Regional languages	Trinidadian Creole Tobagonian Creole
Unrecognized languages	American Sign Language Caribbean Hindustani Spanish Trinidadian Creole French Trinidad and Tobago Sign Language
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Classification

Vocabulary

References