Zamponi R. Betoi

Lincom, 2003. — iv + 61 p. — (Languages of the world: Materials 428).Betoi was once spoken by a people of the same name who lived in an area of the extensive llanos of the Orinoco, bounded on the south by the Sarare River and on the north by the Uribante (Rivero 1883:344-45). The area was called Airico de Macaguane in old sources and is today included in the western extremity of the Apure State of Venezuela not far from the border of that country with Colombia.2 Betoi is a dialect of an extinct language spoken at contact in the Airico de Macaguane and along the nearby Arauca River by numerous other tribes and groups (see §1.3). The designation proposed here for this language, reflecting the two major dialect communities, is Betoi-Jirara.