Aguaruna language

Aguaruna is an indigenous American language of the Jivaroan family spoken by about 45,000 Aguaruna people in Peru. The speakers live along the western portion of the Marañón River and also along the Potro, Mayo, and Cahuapanas rivers. Native speakers currently prefer the name Awajún. According to the Ethnologue there are almost no monolingual speakers; nearly all also speak Spanish. The school system begins with Aguaruna only; as the students progress, Spanish is gradually added. There is a positive outlook and connotation in regard to bilingualism. 60 to 100% are literate and 50 to 75% are literate in Spanish. Huambisa and Achuar-Siwiar are closely related languages. A modest dictionary of the language has been published.

References

• Adelaar, Willem F.H. with Pieter C. Muysken. (2004) The languages of the Andes (especially section 4.4 The Jivaroan languages). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Asangkay Sejekam, Nexar. (2006). Awajún. Ilustraciones fonéticas de lenguas amerindias, ed. Stephen A. Marlett. Lima: SIL International y Universidad Ricardo Palma. [1]
• Asangkay Sejekam, Nexar. (2006) La situación sociolingüística de la lengua awajún en 2006. Situaciones sociolingüísticas de lenguas amerindias, ed. Stephen A. Marlett. Lima: SIL International and Universidad Ricardo Palma. [2]
• Asangkay Sejekam, Nexar and Edwardo Gomez Antuash. (2009). Diccionario awajún-castellano (versión preliminar). [3]
• Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
• Corbera Mori, Ángel. (1984) Bibliografía de la familia lingüística jíbaro 1. Lima: Centro de Investigación de Lingüística Aplicada, Documento de Trabajo 48, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos.
• Solís Fonseca, Gustavo. (2003) Lenguas en la amazonía peruana. Lima: edición por demanda.
• Uwarai Yagkug, Abel; Isaac Paz Suikai, y Jaime Regan. (1998) Diccionario aguaruna-castellano, awajún chícham apáchnaujai. Lima: Centro Amazónico de Antropología y Aplicación Práctica.

External links

• Aguaruna language at Ethnologue
• Entry for Aguaruna at Rosetta Project
• Article about Peruvian student working to preserve Aguaruna language

This Indigenous languages of the Americas-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e