Wayuu language

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

The Wayuu language, or Goajiro (Wayuu: Wayuunaiki), is spoken by 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia on the Guajira Peninsula.

Wayuu is one of the major Arawakan languages. There are minimal differences depending on the region of La Guajira in which speakers live. Most of the younger generations speak Spanish fluently. The extinct Guanebucan language may actually have been a dialect of Wayuu.

To promote cultural integration and bilingual education among Wayuu and other Colombians, the Kamusuchiwo’u Ethno-educative Center or Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwo’u came up with the initiative of creating the first illustrated Wayuunaiki–Spanish, Spanish–Wayuunaiki dictionary.

Less than 1% of Wayuu speakers are literate in Wayuu while 5 to 15% are literate in Spanish. There are 200,000 speakers in Venezuela and 120,000 in Colombia. 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

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.

Sounds

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i [i]	ü [ɨ]	u [u]
Mid	e [ɛ]		o [ɔ]
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.

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m [m]	n [n]
Plosive	p [p]	t [t̪]	ch [t͡ʃ]	k [k]	' [ʔ]
Fricative		s [s]	sh [ʃ]		j [h]
Flap		l [ɺ]
Trill		r [ɾ]
Approximant	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.

Grammar

The personal pronouns are:

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

External links

• WayuuTribe.com -About the Wayuu People and Wayuu Art
• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Brief explanation of the Wayuunaiiki language
• Spanish-Wayuunaiki dictionary
• Venezuelanalysis.com, 4 August 2010, Venezuelan history first - Wayuunaiki newspaper wins Venezuelan journalism award