Embera language

Emberá
Chocó
Ethnicity: Embera-Wounaan
Geographic
distribution:
Colombia & Panama
Linguistic classification: Chocoan
  • Emberá
Subdivisions:
Northern
Southern

Emberá (also known as Chocó) is a group of languages spoken by 100,000 people in northwestern Colombia and southeastern Panama. It belongs to the Choco language family.

Embera, Emperã, Empena, Eberã, Epena, etc. is the Embera word for 'human being', and is used as the autonym by all speakers of varieties of Embera (though by the related Wounaan).

Contents

Languages and regional variation

Emberá is usually divided into at least two languages:

  1. Northern Emberá
  2. Southern Emberá

Each has a few regional varieties. These varieties are often considered dialects, but are also identified as distinct languages. Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America lists them as follows, along with alleged sub-varieties which may be places, extinct groups, or misspellings:

  • Catío (Katío): Dabeiba, Tukurá (Río Verde, upper Sinú, Emberá-Katío), Ngverá (San Jorge)
  • West Embera (Citará, Northwest Embera, Northern Embera):[1] Darién (Sambú, Panamá Embera), Citará (Atrato, Andágueda), Juradó
  • Chamí (Caramanta, Embera-Chamí, East Embera, Southern Antioquia): Tadó*, Cristianía, Upper Andágueda, Mistrató, Garrapatas
  • Baudó: Catrú, Dubasa, Purricha, Pavaja
  • Eperara (Epena): Joaquincito, Cajambre, Naya, Saija, Tapaje, Satinga

Ethnologue (2005, 2009) treats Tadó (*) as a separate language. A case can be made for classifying Baudó as a Northern Embera language. It has many features of both groups, and indeed is mutually intelligible with the neighboring Northern Embera dialect as well as with Epena.

External links

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ The Northern Embera variety used throughout the movie "End of the Spear", where Embera people from Panama are portraying the Waodani people of Ecuador.