- Cacua language
Infobox Language
name=Cacua
nativename=
pronunciation=
familycolor=American
states=
region=South American Northwest
speakers=150 (dated) (1982)
rank=
fam1=American
fam2=Maku
nation=Cacua people
script=Latin alphabet
Location of Vaupes Department in Colombia
iso1=|iso2=cbv|iso3=cbvThe Cacua language is an endangered languageen icon [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=cbv Ethnologue] , report for Cacua, 1973-1999] spoken by a little over a hundred people in North Western South America in the early 1980s However use of the language has been described as "vigorous" by
Ethnologue .Overview
The language is spoken by Indigenous American, Cacua people that live in Colombian and Brazilianen icon [http://globalrecordings.net/langcode/CBV Cacua entry] , Global Recordings] interfluvial tropical forests higher than 200 m (656 ft) in elevation. The people have simple traditional livelihoods such as nomadic Hunting-gathering and
swidden agriculture . There are also some non native speakers of Cacua that are predominantly missionary workers that have worked on evangelizing the native community as well as translating religious Christian texts, notably the Christian Bible.en icon [http://www.kidsinministry.org/missionadventures/bogota.php Bogota Explosion!] , Kids Ministry International]Literacy
Reports gathered by SIL in 1982 described that many speakers are monolingual, particularly children, the later of which is positive for linguistic survivability. Another promising aspect is that even though literacy is low by international standards but still unlike most Indigenous Languages of the Americas literacy is higher in the aboriginal language around 10% as to Spanish, under 5%, the dominant national language of Colombia where all the speakers reported by Ethnologue reside within.
Range
The speakers are located in Wacara (In Cacua: "Wacará") which is 30 km (18.6 mi) from Mitu (In Cacua and Spanish: "Mitú") in the lower Vaupes Region. (In Spanish: "Departamento del Vaupés").
Grammar, Literature, Orthography
The language uses both the Subject-Object-Verb "and" Object-Verb-Subject grammatical constructs in speech.
Moreover in 1975 bible portions had been translated into the written form of this language providing a basis of literature although not native literature. In 2008 the bible had been completely translated, but most are illiterate and it was recorded into audio in its entirety.en icon [http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/audio-bible-colombia Recording the New Testament in the Cacua Language] , Faith Comes by Hearing, 2008]
Cacua uses a variation of the Latin Alphabet.
ample text in Cacua
"Ded pah jwiít jwĩ jwíih cãac cha pahatji naáwát"cbv icon [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_work.asp?id=37522 Ded pah jwiít jwĩ jw... 1997] , Ethnologue]
Related languages
Some speakers are reported to be bilingual by Ethnologue in the Cubeo, Desano, and Guanano languages, but not Spanish, which seemingly contradicts the fact that about 5% were reported to be literate in that language. It may be inferred that Spanish is only used as a literary language.
There are two dialects Vaupés Cacua and Macú-Paraná Cacua.
Cacua is related to the Jupda and Nukak languages.
Other names for this language include: Macu de Cubeo, Macu de Guanano, Macu de Desano, Báda, and Kákwa.
External links
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=cbv Ethnologue] - Language report for Cacua
* [http://globalrecordings.net/program/C06450 Global Recordings] - Cacua audio recordingsNotes
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