Betoi language

Betoi
Jirara
Native toColombia
RegionOrinoco Llanos
Ethnicity394 Betoi (2005), Jirara
Extinctmid 19th century
Duho ?
Early form
Proto-Betoi-Jirara
Dialects
  • Situfa
  • Airico
  • Lolaca
  • Jirara
  • Betoi
  • Ele
Language codes
ISO 639-3None (mis)
qtd
Glottologbeto1236
Map of the Betoi language

Betoi (Betoy) or 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.