ISO 639 car (listing Venezuela)

Alternate Names
Caribe, Cariña, Galibi, Kalihna, Kalinya, Kari’nja, Kari’ña, Kariña

Autonym
Karìna auran

Population
4,450 in Venezuela (2001 census). Ethnic population: 38,800 (2011 census). Total users in all
countries: 8,558.

Location
Anzoátegui, Bolívar, and Monagas states: Orinoco river mouth area; Guyana border; some in
Delta Amacuro state.

Language Maps
French Guiana and Suriname, Guyana, Northeastern Brazil, Venezuela

Language Status
6b (Threatened). Recognized language (2008, Indigenous Languages Law, Article 4).
Classification
Cariban

Dialects
Tabajari, Murato (Myrato, Western Carib). Eastern dialect primarily in eastern Suriname and in
French Guiana and Brazil; western dialect in central and western areas of Suriname and in Guyana
and Venezuela.

Typology
SOV; postpositions; 11 consonants and 6 vowels.

Language Use
Many in the ethnic group speak Carib but lack intergenerational transmission (Crevels 2007).
Home. Some young people, all adults.

Language Development
Literature. Dictionary. Grammar. Texts. NT: 2003.
Digital Support
Emerging (0.04).

Writing
Latin script [Latn].
Source: Ethnologue, via Internet March 2023