Kakwa language

Kakwa
Native to	Colombia (Vaupés), Brazil (Amazonas)
Native speakers	400 (2010)[1]
Language family	Nadahup or language isolate Nukak Kakwa
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	cbv
Glottolog	cacu1241[2]

The Kakwa or Cacua language is an indigenous language spoken by a few hundred people in Colombia and Brazil. There are many monolinguals, especially children.^[1] Apart from being close to or a dialect of Nukak, its classification is uncertain.

Overview

The language is spoken by indigenous American Cacua people that live in Colombian and Brazilian^[3] interfluvial tropical forests higher than 200 metres (660 ft) in elevation. The people have traditional livelihoods such as nomadic hunting-gathering and swidden agriculture.^[1] There are some non-native speakers of Cacua that are predominantly missionary workers. Their presence has resulted in the translation of religious Christian texts, notably the Christian Bible.^[4]

Bilingualism and literacy

Reports gathered by SIL in 1982 stated that many speakers are monolingual, particularly children.^[1] Another promising aspect is that even though literacy is low by international standards, it is higher in the aboriginal language, at around 10%, compared to 5% in Spanish, the opposite situation of most indigenous languages of the Americas.^[1] Cacua uses a Latin alphabet.^[1]

Range

The speakers are located in Wacara (In Cacua: Wacará) which is 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Mitu (In Cacua and Spanish: Mitú) in the lower Vaupes Region.^[1] (In Spanish: Departamento del Vaupés).

Grammar

The language uses both subject-object-verb and object-verb-subject word order.^[1]

Sample text in Cacua

Ded pah jwiít jwĩ jwíih cãac cha pahatji naáwát^[5]

Classification

There are two dialects: Vaupés Cacua and Macú-Paraná Cacua. Cacua is mutually intelligible with Nukak,^[1] and is considered a dialect of the latter by Martins (1999). See that article for further classification.

Other names for this language include: Macu de Cubeo, Macu de Guanano, Macu de Desano, Báda.^[1]

Notes

1. Kakwa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Cacua". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Cacua entry, Global Recordings
4. Bogota Explosion!, Kids Ministry International
5. (Cacua) Ded pah jwiít jwĩ jw... 1997, Ethnologue

Recordings

• Colombian Languages Collection of Katherine Bolaños Quiñonez at the Archive of the indigenous Languages of Latin America. Contains 43 archival recordings of over 1 hour of spoken Kakwa.