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Guayabero Indian Language (Hiw, Jiw, Guaviare)

Language: Guayabero is a Guahiboan language of South America, spoken by around 2000 people in Colombia. It is a polysynthetic language with SOV word order.

Names: "Guayabero" is the Spanish name for the tribe. It means "guava tree," and is the name of a river that runs through their territory. For the same reason, they are sometimes called the Guaviere or Rio Guaviere tribe (for the Guayabero River joins the Guaviere River.) They are also known as the Mitua, which is their name in the language of their Guahibo neighbors. Although they accept all three of these names, in their own language they call themselves Jiw, meaning "the people." Alternate spellings for these names include Guayavero, Wayavero, Mitiwa, Mitúa, Mitus, Mítus, and Hiw.

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Guayabero Language Resources

Northern Colombia Language Map:
Map showing where in South America the Guayabero language is spoken.

Guayabero Language

Guayabero Phonology

Guayabero Orthography

Lengua Guayabero:
Scanned-in Guayabero language texts from the Rosetta Project.

Guayabero Phonology:
Linguistic chart of phonemes in the Guayabero language.

The Bible in Guayabero:
Translation of the New Testament into the Guayabero language.

El Idioma Wayavero:
Guayabero language information including a linguistic map of Colombia. Page in Spanish.

Guayabero Papers:
Archive of linguistics papers on Guayabero, in English and Spanish.

House of Languages: Guayabero:
Information about Guayabero language usage.

Guayabero Language Tree:
Theories about Guayabero's language relationships compiled by Linguist List.

Guayabero Language Structures:
Guayabero linguistic profile and academic bibliography.

Guayabero Prayers:

Guayabero Words of Life:
Translations of Christian prayers and Bible stories into the Guayabero language.

Guayabero Culture and History Links

Guahibo-Sikuani Culture:
History, culture, and traditional religion of the Guayabero tribe and their neighbors.

Colombia vows to protect prehistoric artwork:

Ice Age rock paintings of San José del Guaviare:
Articles about the discovery of ancient cliff paintings by Amazonian Indian ancestors.

Links, References, and Additional Information

  Endangered Languages Project: Guayabero:
  Bibliography of Guayabero language resources.
  OLAC: Guayabero:
  Reference list of Guayabero language materials.
  Wikipedia: Guayabero:
  Encyclopedia articles on the Guayabero language.
  Pueblo Jiw

Grupo Indigena Guayabera:

Guayaberos de Colombia

Indios Guayabero:
Information about the Guayaberos in Spanish.

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