Wayuu language

This article is about the language spoken in South America; for the language of Nepal, see Wayu language.

Wayuu
Wayuunaiki
Pronunciation	[wajunaiki]
Spoken in	Colombia, Venezuela
Region	Northern South America
Ethnicity	Wayuu people
Native speakers	305,000  (date missing)
Language family	Arawakan Northern Ta-Arawakan Wayuu
Writing system	Latin script
Official status
Regulated by	Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwo’u
Language codes
ISO 639-3	guc
Extent of both the Wayuu people and language.

The Wayuu language, or Goajiro (Wayuu: wayuunaiki), is spoken by 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people in northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela on the Guajira Peninsula.

Wayuu is part of the Maipurean language family predominant in different parts of the Caribbean. They have some minimal differences in dialect depending on the region of La Guajira in which they live; northern, central or southern zones of this region. Most of the new generations speak Spanish fluently but they understand the importance of preserving their traditional native tongue.

To promote cultural integration and bilingual education among Wayuu and other Colombians, the Kamusuchiwo’u Ethno-educative Center or Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwo’u came up with the initiative of creating the first illustrated Wayuunaiki-Spanish, Spanish-Wayuunaiki dictionary.

Less than 1% of Wayuu speakers are literate in Wayuu while 5 to 15% are literate in Spanish. There are 105,000 speakers in Colombia and 170,000 in Venezuela. Alternate names include: Guajiro, Guajira, Goajiro.

Recent developments

On December 2011, the Wayuu Tayá Foundation and Microsoft presented the first ever dictionary of technology terms in the wayuu language, after having developed for three years with a team of tech professionals and linguists.

Sounds

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i [i]	ü [ɨ]	u [u]
Mid	e [ɛ]		o [ɔ]
Open		a [a]

Note: "e" and "o" are more open than in English. "a" is slight front of central, and "ü" is slightly back of central.

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m [m]	n [n]
Plosive	p [p]	t [t̪]	ch [t͡ʃ]	k [k]	' [ʔ]
Fricative		s [s]	sh [ʃ]		j [h]
Flap		l [ɭ̆ ]
Trill		r [r]
Approximant	w [w]		y [j]

"l" is a lateral flap pronounced with the tongue just behind the position for the Spanish "r," and with a more lateral airflow.

External links

• Wayuu language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• Entry for Wayuu at Rosetta Project
• Brief explanation of the wayunaiiki language
• Spanish-Wayuunaiki dictionary
• Venezuelanalysis.com, 4 August 2010, Venezuelan history first - Wayuunaiki newspaper wins Venezuelan journalism award