Wayuu language

Range of the Wayuu people and language

The Wayuu language (Wayuu: wayuunaki) is spoken by 305,000 Wayuu people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia on the Guajira peninsula.

Wayuu is part of the Arawak linguistic family predominant in different parts of the Caribbean. They have some minimal differences in dialect depending on the region of La Guajira they live in; 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 Wayuus and other colombians, the Kamusuchiwo’u Ethno-educative Center or Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwo’u came up with the initiative of creating the first illustrated dictionary Wayuunaiki-Spanish, Spanish-Wayuunaiki. [1]

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.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i [i]	ü [ɯ]	u [u]
Mid	e [ɛ]		o [ɔ]
Low		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
Stops	p [p]	t [t̪]	ch [tʃ]	k [k]	' [’]
Nasal	m [m]	n [n]	ñ [ɲ]
Fricatives		s [s]	sh [ʃ]		j [h]
Flaps		l [ɺ]
Trill		r [r]
Approximants	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.

Sources

• The Rosetta Project: Wayuu language

External links

• Ethnologue: Wayuu language
• Brief explanation of the wayunaiiki language