Maipure (Maypure, Mejepure), was a language once spoken along the Ventuari, Sipapo, and Autana rivers of Amazonas and, as a lingua franca, in the Upper Orinoco region. It became extinct around the end of the eighteenth century. Zamponi provided a grammatical sketch of the language and furnished a classified word list, based on all of its extant eighteenth century material (mainly from the Italian missionary Filippo S. Gilij).[1] It is historically important in that it formed the cornerstone of the recognition of the Maipurean (Arawakan) language family.[citation needed]
| Maipure | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Venezuela |
| Region | Orinoco |
| Extinct | Late 18th century[citation needed] |
Arawakan
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
qij | |
| Glottolog | maip1246 |
Kaufman (1994) gives its closest relatives as Yavitero and other languages of the Orinoco branch of Upper Amazon Arawakan. Aikhenvald places it instead in the Western Nawiki branch.[2]
Notes and references
edit- ^ Zamponi, Raoul (2003). Maipure. Languages of the World. Materials 192. Munich: Lincom Europa. ISBN 978-3-89586-757-6.
- ^ Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. (1999). "The Arawak language family". In Dixon, R. M. W.; Aikhenvald, A. Y. (eds.). The Amazonian languages. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. ?. ISBN 978-0-521-57021-3.