Yao language (Trinidad)
| Yao | |
|---|---|
| Jaoi | |
| Yebarana | |
| Native to | Trinidad, French Guiana |
| Era | 17th century |
|
Cariban
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
| Glottolog | yaoa1239 |
Yao (Jaoi, Yaoi, Yaio, Anacaioury) is an extinct Cariban language of Trinidad and French Guiana, attested in a single 1640 word list recorded by Joannes de Laet. It is thought that the Yao people migrated from the Orinoco to the islands perhaps a century earlier, after the Kaliña. The name 'Anacaioury' is that of a number of chiefs encountered over a century or so.
Yao is too poorly attested to classify within Cariban with any confidence, though Terrence Kaufman links it to the extinct Tiverikoto. A few of the attested words are:
nonna or noene 'moon', weyo 'sun', capou 'céu', chirika 'star', pepeïte 'wind', kenape 'rain', soye 'earth', parona 'sea', ouapoto 'fire', aroua 'jaguar', pero 'dog' (from Spanish)
...
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