Arapaso (, Arapafo) is an extinct, poorly attesed eastern Tucanoan language of Brazil, closely related to Miriti, and once spoken by the , who numbered 448 in 2014.
Name
Etymology The name is derived from the Nheengatu name for a species of woodpecker. The native Arapaso self-designation refers to the same.
Geographic distribution Arapaso was spoken in the northwestern Amazonas State in the Upper Río Negro region. Speakers were found in the Vale de Uaupés, within the Alto Rio Negro Indigenous Territory and the Terra Indígena Médio Rio Negro II.
Status Theodor Koch-Grünberg thought that the Arapaso were a subdivision of the Tucano people. All members of the ethnic group were bilingual in Tukano, and the community was undergoing a language shift to it. Younger generations have also received schooling in Portuguese.
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