Data collected by the UNICEF

Data on the Cayubaba language

Alternative names: Kayuvava, Cayuvava, Kayubaba, Cayuwawa.

Classification: Cayubaba is considered as an isolated language. The current knowledge of the language does not allow to list it in any language group.

Geographic area: Bolivia, Department of Beni, province of Yacuma, along the Rio Mamoré, in Exaltación.

Number of speakers: Amongst an ethnic population of 664 people, there are almost no speakers of the ancestral language left. The 2001 census listed 23 people who said they “spoke Cayubaba”, but that figure is lower in reality. The UNESCO lists two very old speakers and Crevels (2010) mentions “two old speakers and few passive speakers”.

Status of the language: According to the 25894 supreme decree of September 11th, passed in 2000, Cayubaba is one of the “indigenous languages recognized as official” in Bolivia.

Vitality and transmission: The language is dying. It is highly possible that there are no native speakers left. The language isn’t used, or transmitted anymore. According to Cravels (2010), the survival of the Cayubaba as an ethnic group isn’t guaranteed.

Historical observations

Before they were integrated in the mision d’Exaltación (founded in 1704), the Cayubaba lived west of the Rio Mamoré. Like other groups from Beni, such as the Itonoma, the Cayubaba deeply suffered from the “rubber fever” at the beginning of the 20th century. Exaltación had become a major centre for trade and the Rio Mamoré was the main means of transportation for rubber. The deterioration of their natural environment due to the brutal exploitation of hevea sap and the violent conflicts with the producers have led to poverty among the Cayubaba who had to give up their traditional lifestyle and thereby lost their culture.

Sources

Crevels, Mily (2010) Bolivia Amazónica In « Atlas sociolingüístico de pueblos indígenas en América Latina », UNICEF. Tome 1, pp 281-300.

Fabre, Alain. 2005. Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos. Available online [24/05/2011]

Online sources

Data collected by the UNICEF on Cayubaba [24/05/2011]

Page dedicated to Cayubaba on the Linguamón website [24/05/2011]

Page dedicated to Cayubaba on the Amazonia.bo website

Additional bibliography

Crevels, Mily 2002. Why speakers shift and languages die: an account of language death in Amazonian Bolivia. ILLA 3: 9-30. Leiden.

Key, Harold. 1975. Lexicon Dictionary of Cayuvava-English. SIL-LDAS-5.

Key, Mary Ritchie 2000. Cayuvava. South American Indian Languages, Computer Database (Intercontinental Dictionary Series, Vol. 1). General Editor Mary Ritchie Key. Irvine: University of California. CD-ROM.

See the Atlas sociolingüístico de pueblos indígenas en América Latina and Fabre (2005) for a complete bibliography.