Piaroa–Saliban languages


The Saliban languages, also known as Piaroa–Saliban or Saliba–Piaroan, are a small proposed language family of the middle Orinoco Basin, which forms an independent island within an area of Venezuela and Colombia dominated by peoples of Carib and Arawakan affiliation.

Language contact

Jolkesky notes that there are lexical similarities with the Andoke-Urekena, Arawak, Maku, Tukano, and Yaruro language families due to contact.
Meléndez-Lozano has also noted similarities between the Saliba-Hodi and Arawakan languages.

Family division

A connection between the two primary divisions, Piaroan and Sáliba, is widely assumed but has not been demonstrated. In addition, Hotï is "probably" related.
Piaroan is a language or dialect cluster, consisting of Piaroa itself, Wirö, and the extinct Ature. The Piaroa and Wirö both consider their languages to be distinct: they can understand each other, but not reliably.
Proposals have been put forth grouping the Hotï language with Piaroa–Saliban in a single Jodï–Saliban family. Hotï was little known until recently and remains unclassified in most accounts. There is also a proposal for including Jodï–Saliban in the putative Duho stock.
Zamponi observes some lexical resemblances between the Betoi language with Piaroa–Saliban, but considers the similarities to be due to areal influences.

Macro-Daha

Jolkesky proposed a Macro-Daha family, which he classified as follows.
;Macro-Daha
However, Macro-Daha was rejected in Jolkesky, although Duho was still kept in Jolkesky.

Vocabulary

lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Piaroa–Saliban languages.