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Yanam
Ninam
Native to	Brazil, Venezuela
Native speakers	470 in Brazil (2012) 560 in Venezuela (2010) (excluding Yaroamë)
Language family	Yanomam Yanam
Language codes
ISO 639-3	shb
Glottolog	nina1238
ELP	Ninam
Yanomaman languages location   Yanomamö   Ninam   Yanomám   Sanumá   Ỹaroamë

Yanam, or Ninam, is a Yanomaman language spoken in Roraima, Brazil (800 speakers) and southern Venezuela near the Mucajai, upper Uraricaá, and Paragua rivers.

Synonymy

Yanam is also known by the following names: Ninam, Yanam–Ninam, Xirianá, Shiriana Casapare, Kasrapai, Jawaperi, Crichana, Jawari, Shiriana, Eastern Yanomaman.

Regional variation

Gordon (2009) reports 2 main varieties (Northern, Southern). Kaufman (1994) reports 3:

1. Yanam (a.k.a. Northern Yanam/Ninam (Xiliana, Shiriana, Uraricaa-Paragua))
2. Ninam (a.k.a. Southern Yanam/Ninam (Xilixana, Shirishana, Mukajai))
3. Jawarib

The name Jawari is shared with Ỹaroamë.

There are three dialects spoken in Roraima, Brazil according to Ferreira, et al. (2019):

• Northern (Xiriana): Ericó and Saúba
• Southern: Mucajaí
• Central: Uraricoera

The remaining speakers of Arutani and Sapé also speak Ninam (Shirián), since they now mostly live in Ninam villages.

Phonology

Yanam has seven base vowels. Yanam has both vowel length and nasalization, and both features can occur simultaneously, for all vowels except for /ɨ/.

References

1. ^ Yanam at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Ferreira, Helder Perri; Machado, Ana Maria Antunes; Senra, Estevão Benfica. 2019. As línguas Yanomami no Brasil: diversidade e vitalidade. São Paulo: Instituto Socioambiental (ISA) and Instituto do Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional (IPHAN). 216pp. ISBN 978-85-8226-076-0
3. Rosés Labrada, Jorge Emilio, Thiago Chacon & Francia Medina. 2020. Arutani (Venezuela and Brazil) – Language Snapshot. In Peter K. Austin (ed.) Language Documentation and Description 17, 170-177. London: EL Publishing.
4. Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada & Francia Medina (2019). Sapé (Venezuela) — Language Snapshot. In Peter K. Austin (ed.) Language Documentation and Description, vol 16. London: EL Publishing. pp. 169-175.
5. "SAPhon – South American Phonological Inventories". linguistics.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-14.

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.
• Migliazza, Ernest; & Grimes, J. E. (1961). Shiriana phonology. Anthropological Linguistics. (June).

External links

• Ninam (Shirishana variety) (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)
• Portal Japiim (online dictionary)

• Yanomaman languages
• Languages of Brazil
• Languages of Venezuela
• Subject–object–verb languages