Kakwa language
| Kakwa | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Colombia (Vaupés), Brazil (Amazonas) |
| Native speakers | (150 cited 1982)[1] |
| Language family | |
| Writing system | Latin |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cbv |
The Kakwa or Cacua language is an endangered language[2] spoken by a little over a hundred people in North Western South America, particularly Colombia and Brazil.[2] Use of the language has been described as "vigorous"[2] by Ethnologue.
Contents |
Overview [edit]
The language is spoken by indigenous American Cacua people that live in Colombian and Brazilian[3] interfluvial tropical forests higher than 200 metres (660 ft) in elevation. The people have traditional livelihoods such as nomadic hunting-gathering and swidden agriculture.[2] There are some non-native speakers of Cacua that are predominantly missionary workers. Their presence has resulted in the translation of religious Christian texts, notably the Christian Bible.[4]
Literacy [edit]
Reports gathered by SIL in 1982 stated that many speakers are monolingual, particularly children, which is considered a positive trait for linguistic survivability.[2] Another promising aspect is that even though literacy is low by international standards, literacy is higher in the aboriginal language at around 10%, unlike most indigenous languages of the Americas,. This compares to a literacy rate of under 5% in Spanish, the dominant national language of Colombia.[2]
Range [edit]
The speakers are located in Wacara (In Cacua: Wacará) which is 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Mitu (In Cacua and Spanish: Mitú) in the lower Vaupes Region.[2] (In Spanish: Departamento del Vaupés).
Grammar, literature, orthography [edit]
The language uses both the subject-object-verb and object-verb-subject grammatical constructs in speech.[2]
In 1975, Bible portions were translated into the written form of this language, providing a basis of literature, although not native literature.[2] By 2008 the Bible had been completely translated, but as most Kakwa speakers are illiterate it was recorded into audio in its entirety.[5]
Cacua uses a variation of the Latin alphabet.[2]
Sample text in Cacua [edit]
Ded pah jwiít jwĩ jwíih cãac cha pahatji naáwát[6]
Related languages [edit]
Some speakers are reported to be bilingual by Ethnologue in the Cubeo, Desano, and Guanano languages, but not Spanish, which seemingly contradicts the fact that about 5% were reported to be literate in that language. It may be inferred that Spanish is only used as a literary language.[2]
There are two dialects: Vaupés Cacua and Macú-Paraná Cacua.
Cacua is mutually intelligible with Nukak,[2] and is considered a dialect of the latter by Martins (1999).
Other names for this language include: Macu de Cubeo, Macu de Guanano, Macu de Desano, Báda, and Kákwa.[2]
External links [edit]
- Kakwa language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- Entry for Cacua at Rosetta Project
- Global Recordings - Cacua audio recordings
Notes [edit]
- ^ Kakwa at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Ethnologue, report for Cacua, 1973-1999
- ^ Cacua entry, Global Recordings
- ^ Bogota Explosion!, Kids Ministry International
- ^ Recording the New Testament in the Cacua Language, Faith Comes by Hearing, 2008
- ^ (Cacua) Ded pah jwiít jwĩ jw... 1997, Ethnologue
