Reyesano language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Reyesano
Spoken in:	Bolivia
Region:	Beni
Total speakers:	Possibly a few speakers (2000 W. Adelaar)
Language family:	Tacanan Araona-Tacanan Cavinena-Tacana Tacana Proper Reyesano
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:
ISO 639-3:	`rey`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

Reyesano is a Tacanan language that was spoken by only a few speakers, including children, in 1961 in Bolivia. It is considered nearly extinct.

Evidently the name comes from the name of the town of Reyes, of the Province of Ballivián in the Departmentof the Beni in the plains adjacent to the Bolivian Amazon. There still are adult speakers in the largely indigenous community of El Cozar in Reyes. However, it is doubtful that this language will survive much into the twenty first century. Such is the margination of the indigenous people in the Beni that very little Reyesano words have entered the popular criollo Spanish, very unlike the situation in Quechua and Aymara influenced areas. There are many indigenous terms in "camba" (Spanish of the Beni) but they mostly of Guaraní origin carried to the Beni by the original settlers from Santa Cruz.^{[citation needed]}