Pemon language

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Pemon
Arecuna
Ingarikó, Kapon
Native to Venezuela, Brazil, Guyana
Ethnicity Pemon
Native speakers
 6,200  (1990–2006)[1]
Cariban
  • Venezuelan Carib
    • Pemóng–Panare
      • Pemóng
        • Pemon
Dialects
Camaracoto
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 aoc

The Pemon language, or Arekuna, is a Native American language of the Cariban family spoken by some 30,000 Pemon people, in Venezuela's Southeast, particularly in the Canaima National Park, in the Roraima State of Brazil and in Guyana.

It is one of several closely related languages called Ingarikó and Kapong.

Camaracoto may be a distinct language.

Typology

The Pemon language's syntax type is SOV with alternation to OVS.[2]

Writing

Pemon was an oral language until the 20th century. Then efforts were made to produce dictionaries and grammars, primarily by Catholic missionaries, specially Armellada and Gutiérrez Salazar. The Latin alphabet has been used, adding diacritic signs to represent some phonemes not existing in Spanish.[3]

Phonology

Vowels

Pemon has the following vowels:

  Front Central Back
Close i ɨ u
Open-mid e ɵ o
Open   a  

There are still texts only using Spanish characters, without distinctive characters for /o/ or /ɵ/.

Consonants

b, ch, d, k, m, n, ñ, p, r, s, t, v, w, y

Grammar

Pronouns in Pemon are:

Pemon English
yuré I, me
amäre you (singular)
muere, mesere he, she
urekon we
ina we (exclusive)
amärenokon you (plural)
ichamonan they, them

References

  1. ↑ Pemon reference at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
  2. ↑ La Transitividad en Japrería.
  3. ↑ http://ricardo.delgado.com/GUIA%20DE%20PEMON.pdf Guide for Pemon (Spanish)

External links

Literature

  • Gutiérrez Salazar, Msr Mariano: Gramática Didáctica de la Lengua Pemón. Caracas 2001. ISBN 980-244-282-8.
  • De Armellada, Fray Cesáreo y Olza, Jesús,s.j.: Gramática de la lengua pemón (morfosintaxis) (1999) Caracas, Publicaciones Ucab, Vicariato Apostólico del Caroní y Universidad Católica del Táchira. 289 pages.

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