Saliba language

Not to be confused with Saliba language (Papua New Guinea).

Saliba
Native to	Colombia and Venezuela
Native speakers	unknown (1,600 cited 1991–2008)
Language family	Piaroa–Saliban Saliba
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	slc
Glottolog	sali1298

Saliba (Spanish: Sáliba, Sáliva) is an indigenous language of Eastern Colombia and Venezuela. Saliba was used by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century to communicate with indigenous peoples of the Meta, Orinoco, and Vichada valleys. An 1856 watercolor by Manuel María Paz is an early depiction of the Saliva people in Casanare Province.

Use

"Saliba was spoken by an ethnic group that lived along the central reaches of the Orinoco River."

"This language group was so isolated that the language was reported extinct in 1965." It is not being passed on to many children, but that practice is being reconsidered. As of 2007, "Sáliva speakers now are almost all bilingual in Spanish, and Sáliva children are only learning Spanish instead of their ancestral language."

As of 2007, "In the Orocué area the language is only conserved to a high degree among elderly women; others understand Sáliba but no longer express themselves in the language."

Grammar

"Sáliba is an SOV language with noun classes and nominal classifiers. The language has a rich morphological system. In some cases, the realization of a verbal morpheme depends upon the form of the stem."

Phonology

"Sáliba has a limited voicing distinction, and boasts six places of articulation for plosives. There are also two rhotics, and nasal counterparts for each of the five places of articulation for vowels."

External links

• Bilingual Spanish-Saliba dictionary

Dictionaries and vocabulary

• Huber, Randall Q.; Reed, Robert B.; Vocabulario comparativo. Palabras selectas de lenguas indígenas de Colombia, Bogota, Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, 1992. ISBN 958-21-0037-0