Awa Pit language

Awa Pit
Cuaiquer
Spoken in Colombia, Ecuador
Native speakers 21,000  (1986)
Language family
Barbacoan
Language codes
ISO 639-3 kwi

Awa or Awa pit, also known as Cuaiquer, is a Barbacoan language spoken in northwestern South America.[1]

It has 21,000 speakers nearly all in the Colombian Pacific slopes, with 1,000 speakers in an adjacent area of Ecuador.[1] Most males also speak Spanish; however, children and females are predominantly monolingual.[1]

Literacy is less than 1% in their native language, and under 5% are literate in the secondary Spanish language.[1]

The language uses the subject-object-verb structure and uses the Latin alphabet.[1]

In Colombia variations of the name include: Coaiquer, Quaiquer, Kwaiker, Awa, Awa Pit, and Cuaiquer; in Ecuador its is also known as Awa, Awapit, and Cuaiquer.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f Awa–Cuaiquer, per SIL, Ethnologue, 1986 and 1991, access date 04-16-08