Wayuu language

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

Wayuu
Guajiro
Wayuunaiki
Pronunciation	[waˈjuːnaiki]
Native to	Venezuela, Colombia
Ethnicity	790,000 Wayuu people (2011 & 2019 censuses)
Native speakers	420,000 (2008–2012)
Language family	Arawakan Northern Ta-Arawakan Wayuu
Writing system	Latin script
Official status
Regulated by	Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwoꞌu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	guc
Glottolog	wayu1243
ELP	Guajiro
Extent of the Wayuu people and language

Wayuu (Wayuu: Wayuunaiki [waˈjuːnaiki]), or Guajiro, is a major Arawakan language spoken by 400,000 indigenous Wayuu people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia on the Guajira Peninsula and surrounding Lake Maracaibo.

There were an estimated 300,000 speakers of Wayuu in Venezuela in 2012 and another 120,000 in Colombia in 2008, approximately half the ethnic population of 400,000 in Venezuela (2011 census) and 400,000 in Columbia (2018 census). Smith (1995) reports that a mixed Guajiro–Spanish language is replacing Wayuu in both countries. However, Campbell (1997) could find no information on this.

Recent developments

To promote bilingual education among Wayuu and other Colombians, the Kamusuchiwoꞌu Ethno-educative Center (Spanish: Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwoꞌu) came up with the initiative of creating the first illustrated Wayuunaiki–Spanish, Spanish–Wayuunaiki dictionary.

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

Dialects

The two main dialects are Wüinpümüin and Wopumüin, spoken in the northeast and southwest of the peninsula, respectively. These dialects are mutually intelligible, as they are minimally distinct. The extinct Guanebucan language may actually have been a dialect of Wayuu.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ⟨i⟩	ɨ ⟨ü⟩	u ⟨u⟩
Mid	ɛ ⟨e⟩		ɔ ⟨o⟩
Open		a ⟨a⟩

Note: ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ are more open than in English. ⟨a⟩ is slightly front of central, and ⟨ü⟩ is slightly back of central. All vowels can either occur in short or long versions, since vowel length is distinctive.

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩
Plosive	p ⟨p⟩	t̪ ⟨t⟩	t͡ʃ ⟨ch⟩	k ⟨k⟩	ʔ ⟨ꞌ⟩
Fricative		s ⟨s⟩	ʃ ⟨sh⟩		h ⟨j⟩
Flap		ɺ ⟨l⟩
Trill		r ⟨r⟩
Semivowel	w ⟨w⟩		j ⟨y⟩

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

Grammar

The personal pronouns of Wayuu are

Wayuu personal pronouns

	singular	plural
1st person	taya	waya
2nd person	pia	jia
3rd person	nia (he) shia (she)	naya

Vocabulary examples

The following are examples of Wayuu.

• Anaas wattamaꞌat 'good morning'
• Anaas alikaa 'good afternoon'
• Anaas aipaꞌa 'good night'
• Jamaya piia? 'how are you (singular)?'
• Jamaya jiia? 'how are you (plural)?'
• Atpanaa 'rabbit'
• Alama 'grass'
• Amüchi 'clay jar'

Wayuunaiki itself comes from wayuu 'human being' and the suffix -naiki, from anüiki 'speech' ('word' or 'language').

External links

• Media related to Wayuu language at Wikimedia Commons
• WayuuTribe.com -About the Wayuu People and Wayuu Art
• Brief explanation of the Wayuunaiiki language
• Spanish-Wayuunaiki dictionary