Language Division
Yanomaman consists of 4 languages, very similar with each other, sometimes classified as a dialect continuum:
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- Yanam (AKA Ninam, Yanam-Ninam)
- Sanumá (AKA Tsanuma, Sanima)
- Yanomámi (AKA Waiká)
- Yanomamö (AKA Yanomame, Yanomami)
Sunumá is the most lexically distinct. Yanomamö has the most speakers (17,600) while Yanam has the fewest (560).
Read more about this topic: Yanomaman Languages
Famous quotes containing the words language and/or division:
“Language is a skin: I rub my language against the other. It is as if I had words instead of fingers, or fingers at the tip of my words. My language trembles with desire.”
—Roland Barthes (1915–1980)
“Affection, indulgence, and humor alike are powerless against the instinct of children to rebel. It is essential to their minds and their wills as exercise is to their bodies. If they have no reasons, they will invent them, like nations bound on war. It is hard to imagine families limp enough always to be at peace. Wherever there is character there will be conflict. The best that children and parents can hope for is that the wounds of their conflict may not be too deep or too lasting.”
—New York State Division of Youth Newsletter (20th century)