The Jirajaran languages are group of extinct languages once spoken in western Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 in the regions of Falcón

Falcón

Falcón State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital is Coro.-Demographics and geography:Falcón State covers a total surface area of 24,800 km² and, in 2010, had an estimated population of 950,057. The Paraguaná Peninsula is connected to the rest of the...

 and Lara

Lara (state)

Lara State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital is Barquisimeto.Lara State covers a total surface area of and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 1,795,100.- Municipalities and municipal seats :...

. All of the Jirajaran languages appear to have become extinct in the early 20th Century.

Characteristics

Based on the little documentation that exists, a number of typological

Linguistic typology

Linguistic typology is a subfield of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features. Its aim is to describe and explain the common properties and the structural diversity of the world's languages...

 characteristics are reconstructable:

1. VO word order

VO language

In linguistics, a VO language is a language in which the verb typically comes before the object.Winfred P. Lehmann first proposed to reduce the six possible permutations of word order to just two main ones, VO and OV, in what he calls the Fundamental Principle of Placement , arguing that the...

 in transitive

Transitivity (grammatical category)

In linguistics, transitivity is a property of verbs that relates to whether a verb can take direct objects and how many such objects a verb can take...

 clauses

apasi mamán (Jirajara)

I.cut my.hand

I cut my hand

2. Subjects

Subject (grammar)

The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...

 precede verbs

depamilia buratá (Ayamán)

the.family is.good

The family is good

3. Possessors which precede the possessed

shpashiú yemún (Ayamán)

arc its.rope

the arc of the rope

4. Adjectives follow the nouns they modify

pok diú (Jirajara)

hill big

big hill

5. Numerals precede the nouns they quantify

boque soó (Ayamán)

one cigarette

one cigarette

6. Use of postpositions, rather than prepositions

angüi fru-ye (Jirajara)

I.go Siquisique-to

I go to Siquisique.

Classification

The Jirajaran languages are generally regarded as isolates. Adelaar and Muysken note certain lexical similarities with the Timotean languages

Timotean languages

The Timotean languages were spoken in the Venezuelan Andes around what is now Mérida. It is assumed that they are extinct. However, Timote may survive in the so-far unattested Mutú language, as this occupies a mountain village within the old Timote state.There is no apparent connection to the...

 and typological similarity to the Chibchan languages

Chibchan languages

The Chibchan languages make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama...

, but state that the data is too limited to make a definitive classification. Jahn, among others, has suggested a relation between the Jirajaran language and the Betoi language

Betoi language

Betoi or Betoi-Jirara is an extinct language of Venezuela, south of the Apure River near the modern border with Columbia. The names Betoi and Jirara are those of two of its peoples/dialects; the language proper has no known name. At contact, Betoi was a local lingua franca spoken between the...

s, mostly on the basis of similar ethnonyms. Greenberg and Ruhlen classify Jirajaran as belonging to the Paezan language family, along with the Betoi language

Betoi language

Betoi or Betoi-Jirara is an extinct language of Venezuela, south of the Apure River near the modern border with Columbia. The names Betoi and Jirara are those of two of its peoples/dialects; the language proper has no known name. At contact, Betoi was a local lingua franca spoken between the...

s, the Páez language

Páez language

Páez is a language isolate of Colombia spoken by Páez people in the central Andes region near Popayán...

, the Barbacoan languages

Barbacoan languages

Barbacoan is a language family spoken in Colombia and Ecuador.-Family division:Barboacoan consists of 6 languages:*Northern* Awan...

 and others.

Family Division

Based on adequate documentation, three languages are definitively classified as belonging to the Jirajaran family:

• Jirajara, spoken in the state of Falcón
  Falcón
  Falcón State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital is Coro.-Demographics and geography:Falcón State covers a total surface area of 24,800 km² and, in 2010, had an estimated population of 950,057. The Paraguaná Peninsula is connected to the rest of the...
  
  
• Ayomán, spoken in the village of Siquisique in the state of Lara
  Lara (state)
  Lara State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital is Barquisimeto.Lara State covers a total surface area of and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 1,795,100.- Municipalities and municipal seats :...
  
  
• Gayón, spoken at the sources of the Tocuyo River in the state of Lara
  Lara (state)
  Lara State is one of the 23 states into which Venezuela is divided. The state capital is Barquisimeto.Lara State covers a total surface area of and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 1,795,100.- Municipalities and municipal seats :...
  
  

Loukotka includes four additional languages, for which no linguistic documentation exists:

• Coyone, spoken at the sources of the Portuguesa River in the state of Portuguesa
  Portuguesa (state)
  Portuguesa State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela.The state capital is Guanare, founded in 1591.Portuguesa State covers a total surface area of 15,200 km² and, in 2007, had an estimated population of 873,400.-Municipalities:...
  
  
• Cuiba, spoken near the city of Aricagua
  Aricagua Municipality
  The Aricagua Municipality is one of the 23 municipalities that make up the Venezuelan state of Mérida and, according to a 2007 population estimate by the National Institute of Statistics of Venezuela, the municipality had a population of 4,564...
  
  
• Atatura, spoken between the Rocono and Tucupido rivers
• Aticari, spoken along the Tocuyo River

Vocabulary Comparison

Comparison of Jirajaran vocabulary, based on Jahn

English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...	Ayomán	Gayón	Jirajara
fire	dug	dut, idú	dueg
foot	a-sengán	segué	angán
hen	degaró	digaró	degaró
house	gagap	hiyás	gagap
snake	huhí, jují	jují	túb
sun	iñ	yivat	yuaú