Betoi language

Betoi
Betoi
Jirara
Native to	Venezuela
Region	Orinoco Llanos
Extinct	mid 19th century
Language family	Betoi–Saliban?
Dialects	Situfa; Airico; Lolaca; Jirara; Betoi; Ele;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Linguist List	qtd
Glottolog	beto1236

Betoi (Betoy) or Betoi-Jirara is an extinct language of Colombia and Venezuela, south of the Apure River near the modern border with Colombia. The names Betoi and Jirara are those of two of its peoples/dialects; the language proper has no known name. At contact, Betoi was a local lingua franca spoken between the Uribante and Sarare rivers and along the Arauca. Enough was recorded for a brief grammatical monograph to be written (Zamponi 2003).

Classification

Betoi is generally seen as an isolate, though Kaufman (2007) included it in Macro-Paesan.

Zamponi (2017) finds enough lexical resemblances between Betoi and the Saliban languages to conclude that a genealogical relationship is plausible.^[1]

Varieties

Historically a dialect cluster, varieties include Betoi, Jirara, Situfa, Ayrico, Ele, Lucalia, Jabúe, Arauca, Quilifay, Anabali, Lolaca, and Atabaca.^[2]

Below is a full list of Betoi varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.^[3]

Betoi / Guanero / Isabaco - extinct language once spoken on the Casanare River, Cravo Norte River, and Apure River, Arauca territory, Colombia.
Situfa / Cituja - extinct language once spoken on the Casanare River in the Arauca region.
Airico - once spoken at the sources of the Manacacías River. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 2, pp. 243-247, only a few words.)
Jirara - spoken once in the upper Manacacías River region. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 1, pp. 201 and 203, pt. 2, pp. 16 and 328, only a few words and phrases.)
Atabaca - once spoken in the upper Manacacías River region. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 2, p. 274, only a few words.)
Lolaca - once spoken on the confluence of the Arauca River and Chitagá River. (Unattested.)
Quilifay - once spoken around the confluence of the Arauca River and Chitagá River. (Unattested.)
Anabali - spoken south of the Atabaca tribe around the confluence of the Arauca River and Chitagá River. (Unattested.)
Ele - spoken on the Ele River. (Unattested.)

Lexicon

Lexicon of Betoi compiled by Zamponi (2003) from various sources:^[4]

Nouns

English gloss	Betoi	Notes
earth (soil)	dafibú, umena
country	ajabó
sky	teo-tucu	lit. ‘house of the sun’
sun	teo, theo, teo-umasoi	lit. ‘sun-man’
moon	teó-ro	lit. ‘sun-woman’
star	silicó
Pleiades	ucasú, ocasú
wind	fafuala
lightning	buní
rain	ofacú
water	ocú, ocudú, oculiba
lake	ocú	= ‘water’
stone	inakí
fire	fútui, futuit
day	munitá
month	teo-ró	= ‘moon’
year	ucasú, ocasú	= ‘Pleiades’
living being (animal, rational being)	ubad-, sg. ubadoi, pl. ubadola
man	humas-, umas-, sg. humasoi, pl. humasola
woman	ro, pl. roducajaná
monkey	sorroy
jaguar	ufi
bird	cosiú, cusí
duck	cuiviví
hen	focará
k.o. mosquito	sumí
fish	dujiduca	duca may be the demonstrative enclitic ‘this’
ants (collective)	irruqui
cock	toteleló
honey	alalaba
forest	quaja, ucaca-ajabo	ajabo = ‘country’
polypody (k.o. fern)	sorroy umucosó	lit. ‘hand of monkey’
maize	romú
body	ejebosi
head	osacá
hair	ubuca
forehead	afubá
face	afucá
eye	ufonibá
nose	iusaca
mouth	afubó
lip	afubé
tooth	oxoki
tongue	inecá
throat	emalafadá
arm	dafucá
hand	umucosó, umocoso
finger	umucurrú
leg, foot	emocá
thigh	uduba
heart	ijiba
belly	utucú
shoulder	telisá
father	babí, babbí
mother	mamá
ancestors	ojabolá	pl.
house	tucú, pl. tucujaná
road	maná
needs (requirements)	duiji
spirit, devil	memelú
God	Diosó	< Spanish Dios
Father, missionary	Babí	= ‘father’
devil	memelú-fofei	lit. ‘bad spirit’
will	ojaca, ajaca

Verbs

English gloss	Betoi	Notes
advise	babasa-, o- -eba	-eba = ‘make, do’
assail	rolea-
bathe	do-
be (location verb (?) and auxiliary)	-u
be (copula)	aj-
be dismayed (or astonished)	ijuca- -uma	Italian: ‘essere sbigottito’
be good	mamiaj-	mamí = ‘well’
be not (copula and auxiliary)	re- (sg.) ~ ref- (pl.)
be obedient	obai- -omucaaj-
be pitiful	dusucaaj-
bum	fafole-
call	cofa-
come	-usa
deceive	-olea, -oloa
die	-iju, rijubi-
fill	anu- -eba	-eba = ‘make, do’
forgive	-usuca	= ‘pay’
give	-umua
go	-anu
help	-ausu
illuminate	tulu- -eba	-eba = ‘make, do’
look for	be-, cula- -atu
make, do	-ebá, sa-
I must beat you	robarriabarrarráácajú
pay	-usuca	= ‘forgive’
don’t permit	jitebometú
prevent	tu-
revere	-omea
speak, say	faá-
steal	rááquirra-
take away	cumi-
take care of	-inefá
think	o- -acaa

Adverbs

English gloss	Betoi	Notes
beforehand	umarrá
now	maidacasí	maida ‘today’
soon, already	maydaytú, maydaitú	maida ‘today’
afterwards, later	lojenuma	numa may be the root ‘all’
yesterday	vita
today	maidda, maida
another time	jajamú
there	fá
down	umenanú	= ‘on earth’
everywhere	ubujenuma	numa may be the root ‘all’
where	día
from where	diatú
well	mamí
little by little	caibanú
casually	foirreojanudá
so	mai, may
little, a bit	bijeasi
sufficiently	fedanú
how	day	= ‘what, ?how much’
very	naisú

Pronouns

English gloss	Betoi	Notes
I	rau
you (sg.)	uju
he, she, it	yairi
we	raufisucá
you (pl.)	ujurrola
they	yarola
this one (m.)	irrí
this one (f.)	iú
this one (n.)	ijé
the same one	oanú	= ‘as’
who (sg. m.) (interrogative and relative)	madoi
who (sg. f.) (interrogative and relative)	mado
what, which, that (sg. n.) (interrogative and relative)	majaduca
what	day	= ‘how, ?how much’

Other parts of speech

English gloss	Betoi	Notes
this	-ducá	demonstrative clitic?
white	cocosiajo
sweet	olisa
bad	fofei, fofej, fofey
wise, prudent	culasa
other	ed-, sg. edoi, pl. edolatu
next, coming	edasu
one	edojojoi
two	edoi	= ‘other’
three	ibutú	= ‘and’
four	ibutú-edojojoi	lit. ‘and/three one’
five	rumucoso	lit. ‘my hand’
many	maitolá
all	-numa, sg. bagenuma, pl. bolanuma
how much	daitolá	pl.
above	ubo
inside	toli
and	ibutú
but	uita
because	day
as	oanu	= ‘the same one’
no	ebamucá
true!	tugaday
how did this happen?	day día qué	day = ‘what, how, ?how much’; día ‘where’, -qué = ‘interrogative’
excl. of wonder	ayaddi
excl. of admiration	ódique
excl. of desire and uncertainty	odijá
excl. of fear	odifarracá
excl. of grief	ai asidí
interrogative marker	-qué	day = ‘what, how, ?how much’; -qué = ‘interrogative’
tag-question marker	dayqué
moreover	farrocafada, farrocafeda

References

^ Zamponi, Raoul (2017). Betoi-Jirara, Sáliban, and Hod i: Relationships among Three Linguistic Lineages of the Mid-Orinoco Region. Anthropological Linguistics, Volume 59, Number 3, Fall 2017, pp. 263-321.
^ Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev, eds. (2023). Amazonian Languages: Language Isolates. Volume I: Aikanã to Kandozi-Chapra. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-041940-5.
^ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
^ Zamponi, Raoul. 2003. Betoi. Languages of the World, 428. München: Lincom Europa.