Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Wirö language

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Native to
  
Colombia and Venezuela

Writing system
  
Latin

Glottolog
  
maco1239

Native speakers
  
2,500 (2002)

ISO 639-3
  
wpc

Language family
  
Piaroa–Saliban Piaroa Wirö

Wirö (also called Itoto, Wotuja, Jojod, or various forms of Maku) is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela. It is attested only by a list of 38 words collected ca. 1900, but this is enough to show it is closely related to Piaroa, perhaps even a dialect. Speakers of the two understand each other, but not reliably, and consider them to be distinct languages.

Maco is not a proper name but a label applied by Arawakan speakers for unintelligible languages. In the case of Wirö, the following forms are found in the literature: Maco, Mako, Maku, Makú, Sáliba-Maco, and Maco-Piaroa, the latter also for the combination of Wirö and Piaroa.

References

Wirö language Wikipedia