Maipure language
Maipure (Maypure, Mejepure) is an extinct language once spoken along the Ventuari, Sipapo, and Autana rivers of Amazonas and, as a lingua franca, in the Upper Orinoco region. It became extinct around the end of the eighteenth century. Raoul Zamponi provided a grammatical sketch of the language and furnished a classified word list, based on all of its extant eighteenth century material (mainly from the Italian missionary Filippo S. Gilij).[1] It is historically important in that it formed the cornerstone of the recognition of the Maipurean (Arawakan) language family.[citation needed] Kaufman (1994)[full citation needed] gives its closest relatives as Yavitero and other languages of the Orinoco branch of Upper Amazon Arawakan. Aikhenvald places it instead in the Western Nawiki branch.[2][page needed] Notes and references
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