Harman Patil (Editor)

Uwa language

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Ethnicity
  
U'wa

Native speakers
  
1,800–3,600 (2004)

Native to
  
Colombia, formerly in Venezuela

Region
  
the largest groups live on the northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy, Boyacá Department

Language family
  
ChibchanChibcha–MotilonChibcha–TuneboUwa

ISO 639-3
  
Variously:tnd – Angosturas Tunebo/Bahiyakuwatbn – Barro Negro Tunebo (Eastern Tunebo/Yithkaya)tuf – Central Tunebo (Cobaría/Kubaru'wa & Tegría/Tagrinuwa)tnb – Western Tunebo (Aguas Blancas/Rikuwa)

The Uwa language, Uw Cuwa, commonly known as Tunebo, is a Chibchan language spoken by between 1,800 and 3,600 of the Uwa people of Colombia, out of a total population of about 7,000.

Varieties

There are half a dozen known varieties. Communication between modern varieties can be difficult, so they are considered distinct languages.

Adelaar (2004) lists the living

  • central dialects Cobaría and Tegría on the northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy,
  • a western group near Agua Blanca in the departments of Santander and Norte de Santander,
  • an eastern group at a place called Barro Negro in the lowlands of Arauca and Casanare,
  • and the extinct dialect Sínsiga near Chita, Boyacá.

    • Umaña (2012) lists Cobaría, Tegría, Agua Blanca, Barro Negro.

    Berich lists the dialects Cobaría; Agua Blanca (= Uncasía, Tamarana, Sta Marta); Rinconada, Tegría, Bócota, & Báchira

    Cassani lists Sínsiga, Tegría, Unkasía (= Margua), Pedraza, Manare, Dobokubí (= Motilón)

    Osborn (1989) lists

  • Bethuwa (= Pedraza, extinct),
  • Rikuwa (Dukarúa, = Agua Blanca),
  • Tagrinuwa (Tegría),
  • Kubaruwa (Cobaría),
  • Kaibaká (= Bókota),
  • Yithkaya (= San Miguel / Barro Negro),
  • Bahiyakuwa (= Sínsiga),
  • Biribirá,
  • and Ruba,

    • the latter all extinct

    Fabre (2005) lists:

  • Bontoca (perhaps the same as the Bókota = Kaibaká cited in Osborn), of the mountains of Guican
  • Cobaría, along the Cobaría River
  • Pedraza or Bethuwa [= Angosturas?], along the Venezuelan border; extinct
  • Sínsiga, in the Guican mountains, recorded from Chita, Boyaca in 1871
  • Tegría or Tagrinuwa, along the Cobaría River
  • Unkasia, along the Chitiga and Marga rivers (Telban 1988)

    • Additional names in Loukotka are Manare and Uncasica (presumably a spelling variant of Unkasía/Uncacía), as well as Morcote, of which nothing is known. Manare, at the source of the Casanare, is Eastern Tunebo.

    References

    Uwa language Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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