Reyesano language

Reyesano
Chirgua, Chiriba, Sapiboca
Native to	Bolivia
Region	Beni Department
Ethnicity	1,130 (1994 census)
Native speakers	12–15 (2011)
Language family	Tacanan Araona–Tacanan Cavinena–Tacana Tacana Proper Reyesano
Official status
Official language in	Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rey
Glottolog	reye1240
ELP

Reyesano, or Chirigua (Chiriba), is a nearly extinct Tacanan language that was spoken by only a few speakers, including children, in 1961 in Bolivia. It is spoken by the Maropa people who number 4,505 in 2012.

There still are adult speakers in the largely indigenous community of El Cozar in Reyes. However, it is doubtful that this language will survive much into the 21st century. Such is the margination of the indigenous people in the Beni that very little Reyesano words have entered the popular criollo Spanish, very unlike the situation in Quechua and Aymara influenced areas. There are many indigenous terms in "camba" (Spanish of the Beni) but they are mostly of Guaraní origin carried to the Beni by the original settlers from Santa Cruz.

Evidently the name Reyesano comes from the name of the town of Reyes, of the José Ballivián Province in the Department of the Beni in the plains adjacent to the Bolivian Amazon. The language is also known as Sapiboca (Sapibocona), Maropa, Chumana, and perhaps Warisa (Guariza); these may have corresponded to different dialects.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	(Alveolo-) palatal	Velar		Glottal
						plain	lab.
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	tʂ	tɕ	k	kʷ
	vd./prenasal	b ~ ᵐb		dʐ ~ ᶯdʐ
Fricative	voiceless		s		ɕ			h
	voiced	(β)	ð
Nasal		m	n
Rhotic			ɾ
Approximant		w	l		j

Voiced sounds /b, dʐ/ are heard as prenasal [ᵐb, ᶯdʐ] in word-initial positions.

/w/ may also be heard as a fricative [β] when before front vowels /i, e/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		ʊ
Mid	e
Open		a

Sounds /i, ʊ/ may also be heard as semivowels [j, w] when in the position of consonants.

External links

• Lenguas de Bolivia (online edition) Archived 2019-09-04 at the Wayback Machine