Yuracaré language

Yuracaré (also Yurakaré, Yurakar, Yuracare, Yurucare, Yuracar, Yurakare, Yurujuré, Yurújare^[2]) is an endangered language isolate of central Bolivia in Cochabamba and Beni departments spoken by the Yuracaré people.

Yuracaré
Yurakaré, Yurakar, Yuracare, Yurucare, Yuracar, Yurakare, Yurujuré, Yurújare
Yurújare
Pronunciation	[juˈɹ̟uhaɹ̟e]
Native to	Bolivia
Region	Cochabamba Department
Ethnicity	3,300 Yuracaré people (2004)[1] 3,394 Yuracaré people (2012) (INE Census)
Native speakers	2,700 (2004)[1]
Language family	Language isolate
Official status
Official language in	Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	yuz
Glottolog	yura1255
ELP	Yuracaré

Speakers refer to their own language as Yurújare [juˈɹ̟uhaɹ̟e].^[2]: 1323

Distribution

There are 2,000–3,000 Yurakaré speakers in the upper Mamoré River valley of eastern Bolivia. They live along the Chapare and Ichilo Rivers in Cochabamba Department, as well as along the Isiboro and Sécure Rivers in Isiboro-Sécure National Park.^[2]: 1325

Loukotka (1968) reported that Yuracaré was spoken at the sources of the Sécure River, and on the Chapare River and Chimoré River.^[3]

Classification

Suárez (1977) suggests a relationship between Yuracaré and the Mosetenan, Pano–Tacanan, Arawakan, and Chon families. His earlier Macro-Panoan proposal is the same minus Arawakan (Suárez 1969).

Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with the Moseten-Tsimane languages.^[4]

Dialects

Two dialects, now extinct, were:^[3]

• Western - Mansiño, Oromo
• Eastern - Mage, Soloto

Coni, Cuchi, and Enete are possible dialects (Brinton 1891).^[5]

Usage

There are approximately 2,500 speakers. These numbers are in decline as the youngest generation no longer learns the language.^[6] (See Language death.)

Documentation

Yuracaré is documented with a grammar based on an old missionary manuscript by de la Cueva (Adam 1893). The language is currently being studied by Rik van Gijn. A Foundation for Endangered Languages grant was awarded for a Yuracaré–Spanish / Spanish–Yuracaré dictionary project in 2005.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k	(ʔ)
	voiced	b	d	dʲ
Fricative	voiceless		s	ʃ		h
	voiced		ɹ̝
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

• The glottal stop [ʔ] only occurs in intervocalic positions.
• /n/ may be pronounced as [ŋ] when preceding /k/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e		o
Open	æ	a

• /ɨ/ may also be heard as a front-rounded [y], in free variation among speakers.
• Sounds /e, o, a/ may also be heard as [ɛ, ɔ, ɑ] when in closed syllables.^[7]

Grammar

• Verb-initial
• agglutinating
• prefixes, suffixes
• reduplication

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.^[3]

gloss	Yuracare
one	letha
two	läshie
three	lívui
tooth	sansa
tongue	erume
hand	té-banau
woman	señe
water	záma
fire	áima
moon	shúhui
maize	sil
jaguar	samo
house	siba

See also

• Yuracaré