Mapoyo language

Mapoyo
Native to	Venezuela
Region	Suapure River
Ethnicity	520 Mapoyo & Yabarana (2007)[1]
Native speakers	3? (2014)[2]
Language family	Carib Venezuelan Carib Mapoyo–Tamanaku Mapoyo-Yabarana Mapoyo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mcg
Glottolog	mapo1246
ELP	Mapoyo Yawarana
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Mapoyo is a Carib language spoken along the Suapure and Parguaza Rivers, Venezuela. The ethnic population of Mapoyo proper is about 365.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p	t		k	ʔ
Nasal	m	n	ɲ
Fricative	β	s			h
Rhotic		ɾ
Approximant	w		j

• /h/ can be heard as a palatal [ç] when preceding a voiceless plosive.
• /n/ can be heard as a velar [ŋ] when preceding a velar /k/.
• /β/ can be heard as a voiced stop [b], when after a voiceless plosive or glottal /ʔ/.
• /s/ can be heard with an allophone of [ts] when word-initially, or after a glottal /ʔ/.
• /j/ can be heard as a voiced fricative [ʝ], when before a back vowel.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ɘ	o
Low		a

• Sounds /i, u/ are reduced to [ɪ, ʊ] in syllable-final position.
• /ɘ/ is heard as a lower [ə] sound when preceding /h/, or following /β/.
• /a/ is heard as [ɑ] when occurring after an initial bilabial sound.^[3]

References

1. Mapoyo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. "Context 30317: Mapoyo (Source: Personal communication about Mapoyo, Yawarana, Pémono, and Tamanaku) | Endangered Languages Project". www.endangeredlanguages.com. Retrieved 2025-09-29.
3. Medina, Francia (1997). Introducción a la Fonética y a la Fonología Mapoyo (Caribe). Caracas: Universidad Central de Venezuela.

• Granadillo, Tania. 2019. El mapoyo y la rama venezolana de lenguas caribes. Cadernos de Etnolingüística, volume 7, número 1, julho/2019, p. 43-55.

External links

• Yabarana word list