Wapishana language

Wapixana
Native toGuyana, Brazil
EthnicityWapishana
Native speakers
13,000 (2000)[1]
Arawakan
Language codes
ISO 639-3wap
Glottologwapi1253
ELPWapixana

Wapishana (Wapixana) is an Arawakan language of Guyana and Brazil. It is spoken by over 13,000 people on both sides of the Guyana-Brazil border.[2]

In Brazil the highest concentration of Wapishana speakers are in the municipalities of Cantá and Bonfim, the Serra da Lua region, where it has been recognized as an official language since 2014.[3]

External pressures have diminished the use of Wapishana among younger generations, and it wasn't until 1987 that Wapishana was used as the teaching language in Indigenous schools of the language community. In 2009, Roraima Federal University created an extension program for learning Wapishana.[3] In Guyana, there are organizations for language preservation, such as Wapichan Wadauniinao Ati'o[4]

  1. ^ Wapixana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Meira-2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Machado, Ananda; de Pinho, Rachel Camargo (2020), Leal Filho, Walter; King, Victor T.; Borges de Lima, Ismar (eds.), "Biodiversity and Knowledge Associated with the Wapishana People's Language: An Ethnolinguistic-Territorial and Conservation Case Study in the Amazon", Indigenous Amazonia, Regional Development and Territorial Dynamics: Contentious Issues, The Latin American Studies Book Series, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 357–373, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-29153-2_15, ISBN 978-3-030-29153-2, retrieved 2021-03-15
  4. ^ "Wapishana Writers' Workshops and Literacy Tutor Training". SIL International. 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2021-03-15.