Cayaba

Cayaba was a Taino dialect spoken in Hispaniola (Haiti) and the Keys by the Taino natives. The word for this dialect is derived from Cay which means Key and Ba which is a verbalizing suffix e.g. Where. This dialect is a subcategory for the Maipurean family of related indigenous languages. The Maipurean family of languages is broken into 3 branches in the Northern Maipurean area. Taino falls under the Maritime branch which is later divided into three more areas. Taino respectively falls under Ta-Maipurean. It is no longer a spoken language today since many Taino’s were forced under Spanish rule to learn the Spanish language and the customs. Although there were some Taino’s that were able to escape into the mountains with other African slaves the language was lost as they inter-mixed cultures with the Africans and Spanish culture.

Bibliography

*Carrada, A. "The Dictionary of Taino Language-Notes." Alfred-Carrada The Dictionary of Taino Language. 2003. November 6, 2007. http://www.alfredcarrada.org/index.html