Wayuu (Wayuu: Wayuunaiki [waˈjuːnaiki]), or Guajiro, is a major Arawakan language spoken by 305,000 indigenous Wayuu people in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia on the Guajira Peninsula.

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Wayuu
Guajiro
Wayuunaiki
Pronunciation	[waˈjuːnaiki]
Native to	Venezuela, Colombia
Ethnicity	793,000 Wayuu people (2011 & 2019 censuses)
Native speakers	420,000 (2008–2012)[1]
Language family	Arawakan Northern Ta-Arawakan Wayuu
Writing system	Latin script
Official status
Regulated by	Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwo’u
Language codes
ISO 639-3	guc
Glottolog	wayu1243
ELP	Guajiro
Extent of the Wayuu people and language
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There are 200,000 speakers of Wayuu in Venezuela and 120,000 in Colombia.^{[citation needed]} Smith (1995) reports that a mixed Guajiro–Spanish language is replacing Wayuu in both countries.^{[full citation needed]} However, Campbell (1997) could find no information on this.^{[full citation needed]}

Recent developments

To promote bilingual education among Wayuu and other Colombians, the Kamusuchiwo’u Ethno-educative Center (Spanish: Centro Etnoeducativo Kamusuchiwo’u) came up with the initiative of creating the first illustrated Wayuunaiki–Spanish, Spanish–Wayuunaiki dictionary.[2]

In December 2011, the Wayuu Tayá Foundation and Microsoft presented the first ever dictionary of technology terms in the Wayuu language,[3][4] after having developed it for three years with a team of technology professionals and linguists.

Dialects

The two main dialects are Wüinpümüin and Wopumüin, spoken in the northeast and southwest of the peninsula, respectively. These dialects are mutually intelligible, as they are minimally distinct. The extinct Guanebucan language may actually have been a dialect of Wayuu.^{[citation needed]}

Phonology

This section does not cite any sources. (April 2022)

Note: ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ are more open than in English.^{[clarification needed]} ⟨a⟩ is slightly front of central, and ⟨ü⟩ is slightly back of central. All vowels can either occur in short or long versions, since vowel length is distinctive.

⟨l⟩ is a lateral flap pronounced with the tongue just behind the position for the Spanish ⟨r⟩, and with a more lateral airflow.

Grammar

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The personal pronouns of Wayuu are[5]

Vocabulary examples

The following are examples of Wayuu.[6]

• Anaas wattamaʼat 'good morning'
• Anaas Alikaa 'good afternoon'
• Anaas Aipaʼa 'good night'
• Jamaya piia? 'how are you (singular)?'
• Jamaya jiia? 'how are you (plural)?'
• Atpanaa 'rabbit'
• Alama 'grass'
• Amüchi 'clay jar'

Notes

External links

Wayuu language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Wayuu language test of Wiktionary at Wikimedia Incubator

Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Wayuu word list

• Media related to Wayuu language at Wikimedia Commons
• WayuuTribe.com -About the Wayuu People and Wayuu Art
• Brief explanation of the Wayuunaiiki language
• Spanish-Wayuunaiki dictionary

На других языках

[de] Wayuunaiki

[es] Idioma wayú

[fr] Wayuu (langue)

[ru] Гуахиро (язык)