Taíno language
Encyclopedia
Taíno, an Arawakan language, was the principal language of the Caribbean islands at the time of the Spanish Conquest, including the Bahamas, Cuba
, Hispaniola
, Jamaica
, Puerto Rico
, the Florida Keys
, and the Lesser Antilles
. The Taíno
had largely displaced the non-Arawakan Ciboney, of which only pockets remained in the Greater Antilles (the Guanajatabey
in western Cuba, the Ciguayo and Macorix in eastern Hispaniola), and in turn had been conquered by the Caribs in the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico.
As the language of first contact, Taíno was one of the most important sources of Native American vocabulary in Spanish, involving hundreds of words for unfamiliar plants, animals, and cultural practices, and through Spanish to other European languages such as English. English words of Taíno derivation include canoe, potato, cay/key, barbecue, hurricane, hammock, maize, cassava, Caribbean, cannibal, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, iguana, savannah, papaya/pawpaw, guava, yucca, maguey, manatee, mangrove, chigger, and maybe tobacco.
In the Greater Antilles, the decimated Taíno soon shifted to the Spanish language
, though some in the Bahamas still speak a Spanish–Taíno mixed language
which is unintelligible to Spanish speakers (Ethnologue
).
In the Lesser Antilles, the Carib conquest (which had advanced to Puerto Rico by the time of the Spanish conquest, and is still occurring to some extent among the Carib and Arawak in South America) created a sociolingistically interesting situation. Carib warriors invading from South America took Taíno wives, or raided north and took female Taíno captives back to the southern Antilles. The women continued to speak Taíno, but the men taught their sons Carib
. This resulted in a situation where the women spoke an Arawakan language and the men an unrelated Cariban language. However, because boys' maternal language was Arawak, their Carib became mixed
, with Carib vocabulary on an Arawak grammatical base. Over time the amount of distinct male Carib vocabulary was eroded, both as boys retained more and more Arawak from their first language and as women adopted male Carib words, so that both sexes came to speak Arawak (Taíno) with a strong Carib component and a decreasing amount of exclusively male Carib vocabulary.
In the interiors of the Lesser Antilles, escaped slaves bolstered the remnant Taíno–Carib population, gradually changing the racial makeup but retaining the language. This mixed population, called Black Carib, took their Arawakan language (now pronounced Garifuna
, from Galibi 'Carib') with them when the Saint Vincent
population was deported to the Bay of Honduras by the British in 1796. The Taíno language is now extinct in the Lesser Antilles, but Garífuna is the most numerous indigenous language in Central America
. It retains the gender distinction in vocabulary, though to a minimal extent, primarily in the personal pronoun
s and in the choice of grammatical gender agreement of abstract words.
Lucayo dialect has n where other dialects have r. Haitian and Eyeri had a for o. There was variation between e ~ i and o ~ u, perhaps reflecting the three stable vowels of Arawakan.
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, the Florida Keys
Florida Keys
The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...
, and the Lesser Antilles
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...
. The Taíno
Taíno people
The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. It is thought that the seafaring Taínos are relatives of the Arawak people of South America...
had largely displaced the non-Arawakan Ciboney, of which only pockets remained in the Greater Antilles (the Guanajatabey
Guanajatabey
The Guanahatabey were indigenous inhabitants of Cuba, They numbered about 100,000 and had lived on the island since at least 1000 B.C. They are considered to be the earliest inhabitants of the island. Hunters, gatherers, and farmers, these native Cubans cultivated cohiba , a crop upon which the...
in western Cuba, the Ciguayo and Macorix in eastern Hispaniola), and in turn had been conquered by the Caribs in the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico.
As the language of first contact, Taíno was one of the most important sources of Native American vocabulary in Spanish, involving hundreds of words for unfamiliar plants, animals, and cultural practices, and through Spanish to other European languages such as English. English words of Taíno derivation include canoe, potato, cay/key, barbecue, hurricane, hammock, maize, cassava, Caribbean, cannibal, Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, iguana, savannah, papaya/pawpaw, guava, yucca, maguey, manatee, mangrove, chigger, and maybe tobacco.
In the Greater Antilles, the decimated Taíno soon shifted to the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, though some in the Bahamas still speak a Spanish–Taíno mixed language
Mixed language
A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...
which is unintelligible to Spanish speakers (Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
).
In the Lesser Antilles, the Carib conquest (which had advanced to Puerto Rico by the time of the Spanish conquest, and is still occurring to some extent among the Carib and Arawak in South America) created a sociolingistically interesting situation. Carib warriors invading from South America took Taíno wives, or raided north and took female Taíno captives back to the southern Antilles. The women continued to speak Taíno, but the men taught their sons Carib
Carib language
Carib, also known as Caribe, Cariña, Galibi, Galibí, Kali'na, Kalihna, Kalinya, Galibi Carib, Maraworno and Marworno, is an Amerindian language in the Cariban language family....
. This resulted in a situation where the women spoke an Arawakan language and the men an unrelated Cariban language. However, because boys' maternal language was Arawak, their Carib became mixed
Mixed language
A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source languages, normally in situations of thorough bilingualism, so that it is not possible to classify the resulting language as belonging to either of the language families that were its source...
, with Carib vocabulary on an Arawak grammatical base. Over time the amount of distinct male Carib vocabulary was eroded, both as boys retained more and more Arawak from their first language and as women adopted male Carib words, so that both sexes came to speak Arawak (Taíno) with a strong Carib component and a decreasing amount of exclusively male Carib vocabulary.
In the interiors of the Lesser Antilles, escaped slaves bolstered the remnant Taíno–Carib population, gradually changing the racial makeup but retaining the language. This mixed population, called Black Carib, took their Arawakan language (now pronounced Garifuna
Garifuna language
Garifuna is an Arawakan language spoken in Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize by the Garifuna people. The language is also spoken to a lesser extent in Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast. Historically it was referred to as Carib or Black Carib and Igñeri by Europeans. Garifuna has a vocabulary split between...
, from Galibi 'Carib') with them when the Saint Vincent
Saint Vincent
-Places:*Saint Vincent and the Grenadines*Saint Vincent , the main island of Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesCanada*Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Quebec, a borough in Laval, QuebecFrance* Saint-Vincent, Haute-Garonne, in the Haute-Garonne département...
population was deported to the Bay of Honduras by the British in 1796. The Taíno language is now extinct in the Lesser Antilles, but Garífuna is the most numerous indigenous language in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
. It retains the gender distinction in vocabulary, though to a minimal extent, primarily in the personal pronoun
Personal pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns. All known languages contain personal pronouns.- English personal pronouns :English in common use today has seven personal pronouns:*first-person singular...
s and in the choice of grammatical gender agreement of abstract words.
Dialects
Carrada (2003) lists five dialects, though three of them occur in Hispaniola:- Baicagua (Baykawa) on Hispaniola. Bay means 'house, dwelling' and kawa means 'cave'.
- Cayaba on Hispaniola (Haiti) and on "islands". From cay 'small island' and -ba locative.
- Cubaba on Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti). From cuba 'Cuba' and -ba locative.
- Lucayo / Yucayo in the Bahamas. From lu ~ yu 'white', cay 'small island', and -o 'where'.
- Eyeri on Puerto Rico (and the lesser Antilles?), the dialect of the IgñeriIgneriThe Igneri were an ethnic group that was once part of the Arawak tribe. They inhabited the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico during the Pre-Columbian era. They are said to have originated in the Orinoco region in Venezuela...
Taino. The word for 'man' in Island Carib.
Lucayo dialect has n where other dialects have r. Haitian and Eyeri had a for o. There was variation between e ~ i and o ~ u, perhaps reflecting the three stable vowels of Arawakan.
Place names
The following are the major geographic features of the Caribbean, with their Taíno names (Carrada 2003):- Antigua: Yaramaqui
- Cuba: Cuba ~ Coba
- Florida keys: Matacumbe
- Gonaive: Guanabo, Guanahibe
- Granada: Beguia
- Grand Turk: Abawana
- Great Inagua: Babeque
- Guadalupe: Curuqueira, Guacana, Tureyqueri, Turuqueira
- Hispaniola: Quisqueya/Haiti
- Isle of Youth/Pines: Siguanea
- Jamaica: Jamaica, Amayca
- Long Island, Bahamas: Yuma
- Martinique: Iguanacaire
- North Caycos: Kayco
- Puerto Rico: Boriken
- San Salvador (isl.): Guanahani
- St. Croix: Ayay, Cibuquiera
- St. Vincent: Bayaruco
- Tortuga (Haiti): Cajimi, Guaney
- Vieques: Bieque
External links
- Alfred Carrada, 2003. The Dictionary of Taino Language (only partially reliable)