Pumé language
| Pumé | |
|---|---|
| Yaruro | |
| pũmɛ̃́ mãɛ̃́ | |
| Native to | Venezuela |
| Region | Apure |
| Ethnicity | Pumé people |
Native speakers | 9,500 (2015)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yae |
| Glottolog | pume1238 |
| ELP | Yaruro |
 Pumé | |
The Pumé language (also called Yuapín or Yaruro, also spelled Llaruro or Yaruru) is an indigenous language isolate spoken by 9,500 of the Pumé people, along the Orinoco, Cinaruco, Meta, and Apure rivers of Venezuela. It is not well classified; it may be distantly related to the extinct Esmeraldeño language or the Chocoan language family.
Demographics
[edit]The Pumé people refer to their own language as pũmɛ̃́ mãɛ̃́, ‘language of the Pumé’. The language is vigorously spoken by approximately 9,500 people as of 2015. Speakers live in the central Apure Llanos of western Venezuela, mainly in the Arauca, Cunaviche, Capanaparo, and Cinaruco river areas. In Capuruchano subdivision, the Pumé do not live close to any rivers.[1]: 1283
Classification
[edit]Pumé has been considered a language isolate since Filippo Salvatore Gilii's 1782 book Saggio di storia americana. However, there have been a number of suggestions for its further linguistic affiliation with a number of families.[1] Pache (2016) considers Pumé to be related to the Chocoan languages, citing evidence from lexical and sound correspondences. Some shared lexical items between Pumé and Chocoan (Pache (2016) cites Yaruro and Epena forms from the Intercontinental Dictionary Series):[2]
Pumé Chocoan dac͡ço ‘eye, face,’ c͡ço ‘seed, fruit, nut’ Epena tautʰu ‘forehead’ da ‘eye’ (used in complex forms) Proto-Chocoan **da ‘eye region,’ **da-ˈbu ‘eye,’ Epena ˈtau ‘eye’ duɾi ‘after’ Proto-Chocoan **duˈɾi ‘tail’ ɡõã ‘meat, flesh,’ goe ‘blood’ Proto-Emberá *uˈa ‘blood’ hu ‘bone,’ hu c͡çia ‘strong’ Proto-Chocoan **huˈa ‘arm, hand,’ Epena huaˈtau ‘strong’ i ‘skin’ Proto-Emberá *ˈe ‘skin’ ĩbu ‘nose’ Proto-Chocoan **kẽˈbu ‘nose’ ic͡çi ‘hand’ Epena iˈsia ‘wing’
Language contact
[edit]Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Saliba-Hodi, Arawak, Bora-Muinane, Choko, Witoto-Okaina, and Waorani language families due to contact.[3]
| English | Pumé | Hodi |
|---|---|---|
| village | bærʊ-pæ̃ | balo |
| to drink | ui ‘water’ | woi |
| to cut | koa | ʰkʷai |
| to lie down | ãrẽ | ʰjali |
| fire | kʰõdæ | ʰkule |
| brother | ajĩ- | hãjẽ ‘little brother’ |
| "alligator" [caiman] | ari | aulẽ |
| cloud | ɡõãrã | kʷa |
| blood | ɡoe | iʰkwə |
| venom | ɲeetowe | jẽtohai |
| wasp | mu | mo |
| to go back/to walk | manau ‘to walk’; mana ‘way’ | mãnã ‘to go back’ |
| English | Pumé | Proto-Bora-Muinane |
|---|---|---|
| spider | mãkã | *paaɡa- |
| sweet potato | ʧerame | Muinane ʤírúúmɨba |
| snake | poana | *buua |
| smoke | ʧʰʊ | *ttsu |
| cassava | pae | *paikuumɯɯ |
| night | pe | *pəkko |
| sun | do | *nɯʔ- |
| English | Pumé | Waorani |
|---|---|---|
| you (plural) | mɛnɛrɔ | mĩnitõ |
| bee | ẽmi | æamo |
| path | nõ | taa-dõ |
| house | hõ | õ-kõ |
| sky | ãde | õ-õdæ |
| to sleep | mõã | bõ |
| peccary | aboea | amo |
| hot | kʊa-kʊ-a | ãgõã |
Phonology
[edit]Yaruro has one of the largest phonologies in the region, with 19 consonants and 15 vowels making for a total of 34 phonemes.[1]
Consonants
[edit]| Labial | Dental | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | ||||
| voiced | b | d | ɡ | ||||
| Affricate | voiceless | c͡ç | |||||
| aspirated | tʃʰ | ||||||
| voiced | ɟ͡ʝ | ||||||
| Fricative | β | h | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Tap | ɾ | ||||||
Vowels
[edit]| Front | Central | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unrounded | rounded | ||||
| High | oral | i | ɯ | u | |
| nasal | ĩ | ɯ̃ | ũ | ||
| Close-mid | e | ɤ | o | ||
| Open-mid | oral | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| nasal | ɛ̃ | ɔ̃ | |||
| Low | oral | a | |||
| nasal | ã | ||||
Orthography
[edit]The Pumé alphabet was devised in 1982.[1]
Further reading
[edit]- Obregón Muñoz, H. (1981). Léxico yaruro-español, español-yaruro. Caracas: Ministerio de Educación.
Notes
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 Mosonyi, Esteban Emilio; Zamponi, Raoul (2023-01-30), "29 Yaruro (Pumé)", in Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev (eds.), Volume 2 Language Isolates II: Kanoé to Yurakaré: An International Handbook, De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 1283–1322, doi:10.1515/9783110432732-016, ISBN 978-3-11-043273-2, retrieved 2026-05-11
- ↑ Pache, Matthias (2016). "Pumé (Yaruro) and Chocoan: Evidence for a New Genealogical Link in Northern South America". Language Dynamics and Change. 6 (1): 99–155. doi:10.1163/22105832-00601001. ISSN 2210-5824.
- ↑ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
External links
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