Yaminawa language

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
"Yora language" redirects here. For the Australian languages named Yor, see Yuin–Kuric languages.
Yaminawa
Yaminahua
Native toPeru, Bolivia, Brazil
EthnicityYaminawá and related peoples
Native speakers
2,729 (2006–2011)[1]
Est. 400 uncontacted speakers of Yora (2007)
Panoan
  • Mainline Panoan
    • Nawa
      • Headwaters
        • Yaminawa
Official status
Official language in
 Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
yaa – Yaminawa
ywn – Yawanawá
mcd – Sharanawa
swo – Shaninawa
mts – Yora
Glottologyami1255
ELPYaminawa
 Shanenawa[2]

Yaminawa (Yaminahua) is a Panoan language of western Amazonia. It is spoken by the Yaminawá and some related peoples.

Yaminawa constitutes an extensive dialect cluster. Attested dialects are two or more Brazilian Yaminawa dialects, Peruvian Yaminawa, Chaninawa, Chitonawa, Mastanawa, Parkenawa (= Yora or "Nawa"), Shanenawa (Xaninaua, = Katukina de Feijó), Sharanawa (= Marinawa), Shawannawa (= Arara), Yawanawá, Yaminawa-arara (obsolescent; very similar to Shawannawa/Arara), Nehanawa†).[3]

Very few Yaminawá speak Spanish or Portuguese, though the Shanenawa have mostly shifted to Portuguese.[4]

  1. ^ Yaminawa at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016) Closed access icon
    Yawanawá at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016) Closed access icon
    Sharanawa at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016) Closed access icon
    Shaninawa at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016) Closed access icon
    Yora at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Endangered Languages Project data for Shanenawa.
  3. ^ David Fleck, 2013, Panoan Languages and Linguistics, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History #99
  4. ^ "Yaminahua." Ethnologue. (retrieved 25 June 2011)