Hup people

The Hupd'äh, or Húpd’əh, are an Amazonian indigenous people who live in Brazil and Colombia.

Residence and neighbors

The Hupd'äh people live in the region bordered by the rivers Tiquié and Papuri, tributaries that join the left hand bank of the river Uaupes in the Upper Rio Negro region of the state of Amazonas in Brazil and the departament of Vaupes in Colombia. They are known as part of the Nadahup language family, and have been in contact with the frontiers of colonization since the 18th century. There are records of countless epidemics of measles, smallpox, and influenza, which decimated the population. Currently they are distributed in approximately 35 villages (local groups) estimated at a total of 1500 individuals. The Hupda villages are, in general, close to areas of Tukano, Tariano, Tuyuka and Piratapuia population, populations which speak languages of the Tukano language family, living near the banks of the streams and rivers that make up the hydrographic basin of the Uaupes river.

Hup language

The Hup language (also called Hupdë, Hupdá, Hupdé, Hupdá Makú, Jupdá, Macú, Makú-Hupdá, Macú De, Hupda, and Jupde) is one of the four Nadahup languages. It is spoken by the Hupda and Yohup, indigenous Amazonian peoples who live in Brazil and Colombia. There are at least three main dialects of Hupdë, of which Yohup (Yuhupde, Yahup) is so distinct that native speakers report limited mutual intelligibility. Hupdë is considered an inferior language by the neighbouring peoples of the Hupda. This has led to all adult Hupda becoming bilingual, speaking both Hupdë and Tucanoan. The bilingualism is one-sided, however, as native speakers of Tucanoan do not believe Hupdë to be a language worth learning. Hupdë is a nominative–accusative language, with a highly developed evidentiality system.

Phonology

Consonants

Hup has glottalized consonants of both stops and approximants which can be seen in the chart below.This language also has nasal allophones of the voiced stops.

Vowels

While this language has nasal vowels, as well, they are not contrastive with the oral counterparts.