Yanomaman, also as Yanomam, Yanomáman, Yamomámi, and Yanomamana (also Shamatari, Shirianan), is a family of languages spoken by about 20,000 Yanomami people in southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil (Roraima, Amazonas). Subdivision Ferreira et al. (2019) Ferreira, Machado & Senra (2019) divide the Yanomaman family into two branches, with six languages in total. Ninam-Yanomam-Yaroamë Nimam Ninam (also known as Yanami, Yanami-Ninami) - 900 speakers in Venezuela and Brazil Yanomam-Yaroamë Yanomám (also known as Waiká) - 6,000 speakers mainly in Venezuela Yanomamö (also known as Yanomame, Yanomami) - 20,000 speakers mainly in Brazil Yaroamë (also known as Jawari) - 400 speakers in Brazil Yãnoma - 178 speakers in Brazil Sanumá Sanumá (also known as Tsanuma, Sanima) - 5,100 speakers mainly in Venezuela Sanumá is the most lexically distinct. Yanomamö has the most speakers (20,000), while Yãnoma has the fewest (178). Jolkesky (2016) Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016): († = extinct) Yanomami Sanuma Yanam Yanomami, Central Yaroame Yanomam, Yanomamï Genetic relations Yanomaman is usually not connected with any other language family. Joseph Greenberg has suggested a relationship between Yanomaman and Macro-Chibchan. Migliazza (1985) has suggested a connection with Panoan and Chibchan. Neither proposal is widely accepted. Language contact Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Irantxe, Taruma, Katukina-Katawixi, Puinave-Kak, Tupi, Arawa, Guahibo, and Jivaro language families due to contact. Name Yanomami is not what the Yanomami call themselves and is instead a word in their language meaning "man" or "human being". The American anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon adopted this term in the correct transcription Ya̧nomamö of its pronunciation to use as an exonym to refer to the culture and, by extension, the people. The word is correctly pronounced with nasalisation of all the vowels. As the phoneme indicated by the spelling 'ö' does not occur in English, variations in spelling and pronunciation of the name have developed, with Yanomami, Yanomamö, Ya̧nomamö, and Yanomama all being used. Some anthropologists have used the spelling Yanomamɨ to indicate what they feel is a more correct indication of the pronunciation with the vowel , but because many presses and typesetters eliminate the diacritical marks, the incorrect pronunciation /i/ and spelling of the name with ⟨i⟩ has emerged. Characteristics Phonology Yanomaman languages have a phonological distinction between oral and nasal vowels. There are seven basic vowel qualities: /a e i o u ɨ ə/, which can occur as oral or nasal sounds. In the table above,