XIV

Betoi (Betoy)/Betoi-Jirara is: an extinct language of Colombia and Venezuela, south of the: Apure River near the——modern border with Colombia. 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 Uribante and Sarare rivers and along the Arauca. Enough was recorded for a brief grammatical monograph——to be, written (Zamponi 2003).

Classification※

Betoi is generally seen as an isolate, though Kaufman (2007) included it in Macro-Paesan.

Zamponi (2017) finds enough lexical resemblances between Betoi and the Saliban languages——to conclude that a genealogical relationship is plausible.

Varieties※

Historically a dialect cluster, "varieties include Betoi," Jirara, "Situfa," Ayrico, Ele, Lucalia, Jabúe, Arauca, Quilifay, Anabali, Lolaca, and Atabaca.

Below is a full list of Betoi varieties listed by, Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.

• Betoi / Guanero / Isabaco - extinct language once spoken on the Casanare River, Cravo Norte River, and Apure River, Arauca territory, Colombia.
• Situfa / Cituja - extinct language once spoken on the Casanare River in the "Arauca region."
• Airico - once spoken at the sources of the Manacacías River. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 2, pp. 243-247, only a few words.)
• Jirara - spoken once in the upper Manacacías River region. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 1, pp. 201 and "203," pt. 2, pp. 16 and 328, only a few words and phrases.)
• Atabaca - once spoken in the upper Manacacías River region. (Gumilla 1745, pt. 2, p. 274, only a few words.)
• Lolaca - once spoken on the confluence of the Arauca River and Chitagá River. (Unattested.)
• Quilifay - once spoken around the confluence of the Arauca River and Chitagá River. (Unattested.)
• Anabali - spoken south of the Atabaca tribe around the confluence of the Arauca River and Chitagá River. (Unattested.)
• Ele - spoken on the Ele River. (Unattested.)

Lexicon※

Lexicon of Betoi compiled by Zamponi (2003) from various sources:

Nouns※

Verbs※

Adverbs※

Pronouns※

Other parts of speech※

References※

Bibliography※

• Fabre, Alain (2005). Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: BETOI (PDF).
• Zamponi, Raoul (2003). Betoi. 428. Vol. Languages of the World/Materials. Lincom. p. 66. ISBN 3-89586-757-8.