Talk:Taíno language

Taino alphabet
Is it possible that the Tainos had an alphabet or some kind of hieroglyph? If yes, is it a mystery? Ismael Perez (talk) 01:10, 28 February 2014 (UTC)


 * Certainly not an alphabet, and AFAIK no writing of any kind. I don't know what you mean by a "mystery".  — kwami (talk) 09:18, 28 February 2014 (UTC)


 * You may be thinking of this paragraph in Taíno:
 * Taíno activists have created two unique writing scripts. The scripts are used to write Spanish, not a retained language from pre-Columbian ancestors.(ref:Sherina Feliciano-Santos. 2011. An Inconceivable Indigeneity: The Historical, Cultural, and Interactional Dimensions of Puerto Rican Activism. University of Michigan, doctoral dissertation.) The organization Guaka-kú teaches and uses their script among their own members. The LGTK (Liga Guakía Taína-ké) has promoted teaching their script among elementary and middle school students to strengthen their interest in Taíno identity.
 * --Thnidu (talk) 20:04, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

Taino Dialects
Does anyone know how reliable the dialects listed by Carrada are? I don't know where he got his information, but I have yet to come across it in any other texts. Additionally, he lists Eyeri has a dialect of Tiano spoken in Puerto Rico, but Eyeri is actually a seperate language altogether. I don't believe these dialects are reliable. I've listed instead the dialects given by Bartolomé de Las Casas (described in the book, "Languages of the Pre-Colomban Antilles"). I feel that this is a much more credible. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jacr88 (talk • contribs) 08:47, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

Taino words in English
I've read that "mangrove" comes from Guarani rather than Taino, but nobody really knows the etymology. Also, "cannibal" is from the name Carib; it's somewhat misleading to say that it's borrowed from Taino.--72.94.172.49 (talk) 12:06, 7 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Also, don't forget güiro. 173.89.236.187 (talk) 07:17, 29 July 2015 (UTC)

I'm not sure on "papaya". While it can be used, Dominicans use "lechosa" to refer to it instead. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.243.247.81 (talk) 15:14, 16 July 2016 (UTC)

Rename to Taino language
The proper way to spell this is Taino. All academic papers written in English use the spelling Taino. Renard Migrant (talk) 12:31, 21 January 2015 (UTC)
 * Renard, I appreciate that you're trying to make a point, but this is trolling, and unhelpful.
 * For others, please refer to the ongoing discussion at wikt:Wiktionary:Beer_parlour/2015/January. User Victar makes essentially the opposite point there, that most academic papers written in English use the spelling Taíno, with the accented í.  -- Eiríkr Útlendi │ Tala við mig 18:43, 21 January 2015 (UTC)

"Ancestors"??
The last sentence of the intro section was
 * There were many ancestors of the Taino from Indonesia and Brazil.

As a description of the Taíno language, this sentence, recently by Gibbydog416 (Talk), is absurd. But it seems to be about the people, in which case it's not only absurd but misplaced. Deleted. --Thnidu (talk) 03:40, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

The Classification of Taino as an Extinct Language
Good Day Friends and Relatives,

Our Taino language is still being spoken today. The statements being made publicly in published dictionaries and by some academics whom say that the Taino language is an extinct language is without question is absolutely wrong. This idea or premise of a Taino language extinction is absolutely ridiculous and are false statements. The Taino language is being taught in many Taino Indian circles and community groups in Puerto Rico and in other places in the Caribbean. There has been an effort since 1968 to revive and restore the past Taino Pre-Colombian language for many decades. Its interesting however to not that I, Pedro Guanikeyu Torres have been researching and teaching the Taino language since 1968 and my enrolled Jatibonicu Taino tribal members and other students today to a degree can speak the Taino language. This can only mean that the Taino language is not an extinct and is actually a living language spoken by its people. I know that it can be hard very heard for some people to imagine and fathom that people are still speaking the mestizo form of the Taino language known by the Summer Institute of linguistics as Taino-Span, and never the less what people and academics think this is a linguistic Taino reality of today. So how can our Taino language of today be an extinct language? Thank you for your time and Regards from, Don Pedro Guanikeyu Torres of the Jatibonicu Taino People of Puerto Rico — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.61.231.207 (talk) 18:28, 11 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia needs sources to back up such a claim. This article in the Journal of Linguistic Anthropology from May 2017 states "the Taíno language is no longer spoken and there is very little documentation from which to reconstruct it. [...] However, currently there are Puerto Rican Taíno, or Jíbaro‐Boricua, indigenous groups seeking to reconstruct the Taíno language." So from this it seems correct to say it is not a currently-spoken language. -- User:Brainy J ✿ (talk) 19:37, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

Pronunciation of Jamaica
Elsewhere on Wikipedia, the etymology of Jamaica is given as "Xaymaca." The letter 'x' in Taíno orthography is pronounced as [tʃ] at the start of a word. So I don't see how "Ya-mah-ye-ka" can be correct. PametUGlavu (talk) 09:38, 3 April 2020 (UTC)


 * Hello, do you have a good source on Taíno phonetics or/and orthography? Thanks! :) Ligocsicnarf89 (talk) 05:05, 18 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I also came here to comment about this as I'd never heard this "great spirit of the land of man" etymology before, only the "land of wood and water" one as given on Wiktionary. Wiktionary doesn't provide a source either, but when I Google for "Jamaica etymology" almost all results seem to say "land of wood and water" or "land/isle of springs". Simmo333333 (talk) 14:32, 28 May 2022 (UTC)

Social studies
Why referred to the tainos as the Stone Age people — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.43.180.131 (talk) 17:01, 29 October 2022 (UTC)