Home to 6 dialects represented on Dialect Atlas, spanning 6 language families.
The Spanish of Venezuela, centred on Caracas. A Caribbean Spanish variety closely related to Cuban and Dominican Spanish, with strong /s/-aspiration and a distinctive lexicon.
also: Wayuunaiki, Guajiro
The largest Arawakan language, spoken across the La Guajira peninsula straddling Colombia and Venezuela. Around 400,000 speakers, with active revitalisation and bilingual education.
also: Arekuna, Kamarakoto
A Cariban language of the Gran Sabana and adjacent highlands of Venezuela, Guyana, and northern Brazil. Around 30,000 speakers; the language of the Pemón people of Mount Roraima.
also: Makushi
A Cariban language spoken across the Roraima savannas of northern Brazil, southwestern Guyana, and adjacent Venezuela. Closely related to Pemón.
also: Yanomamö
A cluster of Yanomaman languages spoken across the Brazil-Venezuela Amazonian border. Around 30,000 speakers, with internal varieties (Yanomami, Sanumá, Ninam, Yanam) often considered separate languages.
also: Lingua Geral Amazônica, Modern Tupi
A Tupi-Guaraní language descended from old Tupinambá; the historical Lingua Geral of Amazonia. Co-official in São Gabriel da Cachoeira (Brazil), the only municipality in Brazil with Indigenous co-official languages.