Ninam language

Yanam, or Ninam, is a Yanomaman language spoken in Roraima, Brazil (800 speakers) and southern Venezuela near the Mucajai, upper Uraricaá, and Paragua rivers.

Not to be confused with Shiriana language.
For the village, see Ninam, Satara district.
For the musical instrument, see Jivari.
Yanam
Ninam
Native toBrazil, Venezuela
Native speakers
800 in Brazil (2010)[1]
100 in Venezuela (no date)[2]
including 430 Yaroamë (2015)
Yanomam
  • Yanam
Language codes
ISO 639-3shb
Glottolognina1238
ELPNinam[3]
Distribution in Venezuela

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:

  1. Yanam (a.k.a. Northern Yanam/Ninam (Xiliana, Shiriana, Uraricaa-Paragua))
  2. Ninam (a.k.a. Southern Yanam/Ninam (Xilixana, Shirishana, Mukajai))
  3. Jawarib

The name Jawari is shared with Yaroamë.

There are three dialects spoken in Roraima, Brazil according to Ferreira, et al. (2019):[4]

The remaining speakers of Arutani and Sapé also speak Ninam (Shirián), since they now mostly live in Ninam villages.[5][6]

Phonology

Yanam has seven base vowels: /a, e, ə, i, ɨ, o, u/. Yanam has both vowel length and nasalization, and both features can occur simultaneously, for all vowels except for /ɨ/.[7]

Consonants
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
  1. Yanam at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Ninam at Ethnologue (10th ed., 1984). Note: Data may come from the 9th edition (1978).
  3. Endangered Languages Project data for Ninam.
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. "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).
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