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Piro Indian Language (Cujareño)

Piro is an Arawakan language of South America, spoken by only a few tribal elders in eastern Peru. Piro is very closely related to the neighboring Iñapari language, and some consider them to be dialects of a single language. The Mashco Piro language is also frequently confused with the much more widely-spoken Yine and Machinere languages, both because members of all three groups are generically referred to as "Piro" and also because the identifier "Mashco" is rejected as derogatory by many Piro speakers. Piro is a polysynthetic language with predominantly SOV word order.

˜Our Online Piro Materials –

Piro Words:
Our list of vocabulary words in the Piro language, with comparison to words in other Arawakan languages.

˜Piro Language Resources –

La Lengua Piro:
Information on Piro and Machinere including a text sample and linguistic map of Peru. Page in Spanish.

Language Museum: Piro:
Bible passage in the Piro Indian language.

Mashco Piro Language:
Demographic information on Piro from the Ethnologue of Languages.

˜Piro Culture and History Links –

Transitory Reserves for Mashco-Piro Indians:
Article on Peru's protection plan for the Piro tribe.

Los Piros:
Information about the Yine and Mashko Piro in Spanish.

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