Yucuna language

Yucuna
Jukuna
Native toColombia
RegionMiritiparaná River
Native speakers
1,800 (2001)
Arawakan
Dialects
  • Guarú  ?
Language codes
ISO 639-3ycn
qqj (Guarú)
Glottologyucu1253  Yucuna
guar1294  Guaru
ELPYucuna

Yucuna (Jukuna), also known as Matapi, Yucuna-Matapi, and Yukunais, is an Arawakan language spoken in several communities along the Mirití-Paraná River in Colombia. Extinct Guarú (Garú) was either a dialect or a closely related language. Yucuna is a polysynthetic language, and it uses SVO word order.

The Matapi, a Tucanoan people, lived at the headwaters of the Popeyacá and Yapiyá, tributaries to the Miriti River and Apaporis River but most may have been sold as slaves or moved to Brazil. The remainder joined the Yucuna.