Extinct Arutani–Sape language of Venezuela From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sapé, also called Kaliana or Caliana, is an extinct language recently spoken along the Paragua River and Karuna River. There were only about a few dozen speakers in the mid-1900s, and by the 2000s, only a few elderly speakers were found. Sapé may be a language isolate.
Sape is one of the most poorly attested extant languages in South America, and there is no comprehensive linguistic description of the language other than scattered word lists.[2][3]
Word lists have been collected by Armellada & Matallana (1942),[4] Migliazza (1978),[5] Walter Coppens,[6] and Francia Medina.[7] There are unpublished field notebooks by Fèlix Cardona i Puig from the 1930s-1940s containing linguistic data of Sapé.[8]
Perozo et al. (2008: 175-176) was also able to collect 44 words and 5 short phrases from semi-speakers living in the Ninam villages of Boca de Ichún and Kavamaikén and the Pemon village of Karunkén in Venezuela.[9] Some of the Sapé semi-speakers have since moved to Yuwapí Merú, a village located on the Middle Paragua. There may also be semi-speakers of Sapé living in the Pemon village of Venevené (Benebené, Veneveken).[8]
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Kaliána.[10]
| gloss | Kaliána |
|---|---|
| one | koki |
| two | ikiria |
| three | komoña |
| head | koyanukú |
| eye | kam-kukú |
| tooth | kaká |
| man | mínõ |
| water | inám |
| fire | txokó |
| sun | yám |
| manioc | téntu |
| jaguar | pudzyín |
| house | enaĩ |
According to Rosés Labrada & Medina (2019), the last fluent speakers of Sapé were Elena Lezama, who died in 2004, and Ramón Quimillo Lezama, who died in November 2018. However, at least 2 semi-speakers remain.[8] Traditionally located along the Karún River and the Upper Paragua River, most Sapé have assimilated into Pemon-speaking villages.
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Warao, Chibchan, Puinave-Kak, Jirajara, Tukano (especially Cubeo and Wanano), Arutani, and Máku language families due to contact.[11]
Similarities with Chibchan are primarily with the Magdalena subgroup.[11]: 326
