Tinigua (Tiniguas) is an endangered language isolate spoken in Colombia which used to form a small language family with the now extinct Pamigua language.
Final speakers
As of 2000, Tinigua had only two remaining speakers, Sixto Muñoz (Tinigua name: Sɨsɨthio ‘knife’) and his brother, Criterio. Criterio died some time around 2005, leaving behind Sixto as the last remaining speaker of Tinigua. Formerly a resident of the Serranía de la Macarena in Meta Department, Sixto Muñoz currently resides in Jiw village of Barrancón, near the main town of Guaviare Department.: 1029 They lived in Meta Department, between the Upper Guayabero and Yari rivers.
Muñoz also speaks Spanish and is thought to have been born somewhere from 1924-1929. He has five children, but he chose not to teach them Tinigua because they would not have any use for it.
Below is a comparison of Tinigua forms elicited from Sixto Muñoz in 2019 compared with Tinigua and Pamigua words recorded in Castellví (1940).
References
Further reading
- Brenzinger, Matthias (2007). Language diversity endangered. 181. Vol. Trends in Linguistics: Studies and monographs. Walter de Gruyter. p. 23. ISBN 978-3-11-017050-4. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
- Moseley, Christopher (2007). Encyclopedia of the world's endangered languages. Routledge. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7007-1197-0. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
