distinguish two dialects of Taíno, one in the east and the other in the north and west:

* Classic (Eastern) Taíno, or Taíno proper, spoken in the Classic Taíno and Eastern Taíno cultural areas. These were the Lesser Antilles north of Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico, central Hispaniola, and the southernmost Turks & Caicos (from an expansion in ). Classic Taíno was expanding into eastern and even central Cuba at the time of the Spanish Conquest, perhaps from people fleeing the Spanish in Hispaniola.
* (Western) Taíno, spoken in Ciboney