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The 1999 Constitution of Venezuela declared Spanish and languages spoken by indigenous people from Venezuela as official languages. Deaf people use Venezuelan Sign Language (lengua de señas venezolana, LSV). Portuguese (185,000) [1] and Italian (200,000), [2] are the most spoken languages in Venezuela after the official language of Spanish.
That phonetic trait, unique in the Americas, is from the large number of northern Spanish settlers in Andean Venezuela. The Central dialect, a characteristic marked accent whose use is very common in cities like Caracas, La Guaira, Los Teques, Maracay and Valencia. This dialect is the basis of standard Spanish of Venezuela.
The intermingling of races in Venezuela commenced in the 16th century when Spanish conquerors and settlers intermarried with indigenous women, owing to the absence of European women in the region. Subsequently, with the introduction of enslaved Africans, a process of racial fusion emerged among the indigenous, European, and African populations.
Before the Spanish colonization of the region that would become the country of Venezuela, the territory was the home to many different indigenous peoples. Today more than fifty different indigenous ethnic groups inhabit Venezuela. Most of them speak languages belonging to the Arawakan, Cariban, and Chibchan languages families.
Although most residents are monolingual Spanish speakers, many languages are spoken in Venezuela. In addition to Spanish, the Constitution recognizes more than thirty Indigenous languages, including Wayuu, Warao, Pemón, and many others for the official use of the Indigenous peoples, mostly with few speakers – less than 1% of the total ...
Spanish and Portuguese are the predominant languages of Latin America. Spanish is the official language of most of the countries on the Latin American mainland, as well as in Puerto Rico (where it is co-official with English), Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Portuguese is spoken only in Brazil, the biggest and most populous country in the region.
Ñ-shaped animation showing flags of some countries and territories where Spanish is spoken. Spanish is the official language (either by law or de facto) in 20 sovereign states (including Equatorial Guinea, where it is official but not a native language), one dependent territory, and one partially recognized state, totaling around 442 million people.
Other indigenous languages spoken in Zulia include Yukpa (endangered, 7500 speakers), Bari (endangered, 8000 speakers) and Japreria (critically endangered, 95 speakers). Zulia is the only Venezuelan state where the use of voseo is widespread. Spanish and indigenous languages have been recognized as official languages by this state's government.