II - Taíno

Taíno, an extinct Arawakan language, was once spoken by the Taíno people of the Caribbean. It has been considered extinct due to extremely low numbers of native speakers and an unfortunate lack of resources and efforts to revitalize the culture and language. Taíno was the most common language spoken in the Caribbean at the time the Spanish began their conquest of the Americas in the late 1400s and early 1500s. However, the Taíno community and people suffered immensely from the impact of colonization; foreign disease wiped out an estimated 85% of all native speakers by the mid-1500s. While its history is grim and its popularity slim, Taíno is a beautiful language that is often overlooked by many linguists.

Geography

The Taíno language was native to the Caribbean; the dialect of Classic Taíno was the native language of the tribes in Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos Islands, and other surrounding islands. Meanwhile, the Ciboney dialect is theorized to have been located within the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Cuba

History

The history behind Taíno is quite tragic. Even though it was the first indigenous language introduced to Europeans, Taíno culture and language declined. Many of the Spanish settlers rejected Taíno; the Spanish, French, English, and other European languages quickly replaced Taíno. Due to ravenous diseases and cruel slavery, less than 10% of Taíno remained in the Americas. This had a devastating impact on the culture, and resulted in the Taíno language being declared extinct.

Language

The Taíno language is composed of two major dialects: Classic (Eastern) Taíno and Ciboney (Western) Taíno. The language was not written; instead, people communicated using petroglyphs. It borrows loanwords from Spanish, but still is drastically different.

RESOURCES