Tinigua language

Tinigua (Tiniguas) is an endangered language isolate spoken in Colombia which used to form a small language family with the now extinct Pamigua language.

Tinigua
Tiniguas
Native to	Colombia
Region	Meta Department, Colombia; Serranía de la Macarena, Colombia
Ethnicity	1[1]
Native speakers	1 (2013)[1]
Language family	Tiniguan Tinigua
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tit
Glottolog	tini1245
ELP	Tinigua

Final speakers

As of 2000, Tinigua had only two remaining speakers, Sixto Muñoz (Tinigua name: Sɨsɨthio ‘knife’) and his brother, Criterio. Criterio died some time around 2005, leaving behind Sixto as the last remaining speaker of Tinigua.^[2] Formerly a resident of the Serranía de la Macarena in Meta Department, Sixto Muñoz currently resides in Jiw village of Barrancón, near the main town of Guaviare Department.^[3]: 1029 They lived in Meta Department, between the Upper Guayabero and Yari rivers.^[4]

Muñoz also speaks Spanish and is thought to have been born somewhere from 1924-1929. He has five children, but he chose not to teach them Tinigua because they would not have any use for it.^[5]

Below is a comparison of Tinigua forms elicited from Sixto Muñoz in 2019 compared with Tinigua and Pamigua words recorded in Castellví (1940).^[6][3]

English gloss	Tinigua (Sixto Muñoz)	Tinigua (Castellví)	Pamigua (Castellví)
eye	sıt̵́i	zőti, zɘ̀ti	sete, xete
water	ɲikʷájtʃi	ñikwáiši	nikagé
fire	hikʰítsa	ičísa	ekísa
woman	ɲísa	ñíza, ñísä	nixtá
dog	hanó	xamno, xámiu	xannó
jaguar	kʰíɲa ~ tʃíɲa	číña, ǰíña, xiña	xiñaga
corn	jóʔhá	t’óka, tióka	xukxá
manioc	komáha	xaačá	xoayoa
let's go	minahá	manaxǎí	menáxa
chili pepper	tsákha	ţáxa	saxa
good	hajohási	ayuxáǐ	ayoxagua (‘good morning’)
plantain	mandótha	madóxa	mandotá
spirit	hamajiéha	pan-kianóso	kinoxá (‘enemy’)
man	tsɨtsía	psäţeyá	piksiga
five	tsátokwahá (tsátho-kwaʔa ‘left.side-hand’)	xopa-kuáxa	saksu-kuaxa
eleven	tapásaɲóha	čimatóse-kiésä	čipsé ipa-kiaxi

References

1. Tinigua at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. ""Su cultura y lengua morirán con él"". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish).
3. Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev, eds. (2023). Amazonian Languages: Language Isolates. Volume II: Kanoé to Yurakaré. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-043273-2.
4. Tobal, Juan Pablo (21 February 2013). "El último Tinígua" (in Spanish). La Voz.
5. ""Su cultura y lengua morirán con él"". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish).
6. Castellví, F. Marcelino de. 1940. La lengua tinigua. Journal de la Société des Americanistes de Paris 32. 93–101.

Further reading

• Brenzinger, Matthias (2007). Language diversity endangered. 181. Vol. Trends in Linguistics: Studies and monographs. Walter de Gruyter. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-11-017050-4. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
• Moseley, Christopher (2007). Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languages. Routledge. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7007-1197-0. Retrieved 2009-09-19.