Mapoyo-Yabarana language

Mapoyo
Mapoyo–Yavarana
Native toVenezuela
RegionSuapure River
Ethnicity520 Mapoyo & Yabarana (2007)
Extinctafter 1998 (Pemono)
A few semi-speakers (2007, Mapoyo proper)
20 (1977, Yabarana)
Carib
  • Venezuelan Carib
Dialects
  • Mapoyo
  • Yabarana
  • Pemono
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
mcg  Mapoyo
yar  Yabarana
pev  Pémono
Glottologmapo1245
ELPYawarana

Mapoyo, or Mapoyo–Yavarana, is a Carib language spoken along the Suapure and Parguaza Rivers, Venezuela. The ethnic population of Mapoyo proper is about 365. Yabarana dialect is perhaps extinct; 20 speakers were known in 1977. An additional dialect, Pémono, was discovered in 1998. It was spoken only by an 80-year-old woman and has since gone extinct.