Arabela language
| Arabela | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Perú | |
| Total speakers: | 50 (2002 SIL) | |
| Language family: | American Zaparoan Arabela |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | arl | |
| ISO 639-3: | arl | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Arabela is an indigenous American language of the Zaparoan family spoken in two Peruvian villages in tropical forest along the Napo tributary of the Arabela river. Also known as Chiripuno and Chiripunu, it is spoken by about 50 people out of an ethnic population of about 500. However, some of the speakers have a passive understanding of Arabela, but do not speak it. Due to the very low number of speakers, it is classified as a seriously endangered language. Since there are so few speakers of Arabela left, its speakers speak either Spanish or Quechua as a second language. The literacy rate for Arabela as a first language is about 10-30%, and about 50-75% for a second language. It uses a SVO order (SVO) order, a very common word order, used in English, Albanian, Chinese, Spanish, and Xhosa. It is an official language of Peru. [1]
References
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