Piro
Piro
Pronunciation	[ˈjine]
Native to	Peru
Ethnicity	Yine people, Manchineri
Native speakers	5,000 (2000–2004)[1]
Language family	Arawakan Southern Piro Piro
Official status
Official language in	Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: pib – Yine mpd – Machinere (Manitenére)
Glottolog	yine1238  Yine mach1268  Machinere
ELP	Piro Maxineri

Piro is a Maipurean language spoken in Peru. It belongs to the Piro group which also includes Iñapari (†) and Apurinã. The principal variety is Yine. The Manchineri who live in Brazil (Acre) and reportedly also in Bolivia speak what may be a dialect of Yine (Aikhenvald, Kaufman). A vocabulary labeled Canamaré is "so close to Piro [Yine] as to count as Piro", but has been a cause of confusion with the unrelated Kanamarí language.^[2]

Names

This language is also called Contaquiro, Pira, Piro, Pirro, Simiranch, or Simirinche. Cushichineri has been reported as a language, but is actually a family name used with Whites (Matteson 1965). The name Mashco has sometimes been incorrectly applied to the Yine. (See Mashco Piro.)

Varieties

Extinct varieties of Piro (Yine):^[3]: 244

• Chontaquiro (Simirinche, Upatarinavo): Ucayali River
• Manchineri (Manatinavo): Purus River
• Kushichineri (Kuxiti-neri, Kujigeneri, Cusitinavo): upper Purus River in Peru (in 1886, spoken on the Curumahá River or Curanja River, and probably also on the Cujar River)
• Kuniba (Kunibo): Juruá River
• Katukina: Juruá River. Documented by Natterer (1833). Not to be confused with the unrelated Katukina language.
• Canamare (Canamirim, Canamary): Iaco River, a tributary of the Purus River. Documented by Spix (1819). Not to be confused with the unrelated Kanamarí language.
• Mashco-Piro: Madre de Dios River

Demographics

As of 2000, essentially all of the 4,000 ethnic Yine people speak the language. They live in the Ucayali and Cusco Departments, near the Ucayali River, and near the Madre de Dios River in the Madre de Dios Region in Peru. Literacy is comparatively high. A dictionary has been published in the language and the language is taught alongside Spanish in some Yine schools. There are also a thousand speakers of Machinere.^[1]

Phonology

Vowels

• Vowels are nasalized after /h̃/.

Consonants

• /w/ is heard as a bilabial approximant [β̞] when before a close vowel.
• /n/ is heard as [ŋ] before /k/.
• /ɾ/ can be trilled [r] when in word-initial position.^[4]

Syntax

Piro has an active–stative syntax.^[5]