Warao language

Warao
Native toVenezuela, Guyana, Suriname
EthnicityWarao
Native speakers
32,800 (2005–2011)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3wba
Glottologwara1303
ELPWarao

Warao (also known as Guarauno, Guarao, Warrau) is the native language of the Warao people. A language isolate, it is spoken by about 33,000 people primarily in northern Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname. It is notable for its unusual object–subject–verb word order.[2] The 2015 Venezuelan film Gone with the River was spoken in Warao.[3]

Classification

Warao appears to be a language isolate, unrelated to any recorded language in the region or elsewhere.[4] Terrence Kaufman (1994) included it in his hypothetical Macro-Paezan family, but the necessary supporting work was never done.[5] Julian Granberry connected many of the grammatical forms, including nominal and verbal suffixes, of Warao to the Timucua language of North Florida, also a language isolate.[6] However, he has also derived Timucua morphemes from Muskogean, Chibchan, Paezan, Arawakan, and other Amazonian languages, suggesting multi-language creolization as a possible explanation for these similarities.[5]

Waroid hypothesis

Main article: Waroid languages
Further information: Pre-Arawakan languages of the Greater Antilles

Granberry also finds "Waroid" vocabulary items in Guajiro (from toponymic evidence it seems that the Warao or a related people once occupied Goajiro country) and in Taino (nuçay or nozay [nosái] "gold" in Ciboney—cf. Warao naséi símo "gold" (lit. "yellow pebble")—and duho "ceremonial stool" in Classic Taino—cf. Warao duhu "sit, stool"). Granberry & Vescelius (2004) note that toponymic evidence suggests that the pre-Taino Macorix language of Hispaniola and the Guanahatabey language of Cuba may have been Waroid languages as well.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Cariban, Arutani, Máku, and Sape language families due to contact within an earlier Guiana Highlands interaction sphere.[7]

Demographics

The language had an estimated 28,100 speakers in Venezuela as of 2007. The Warao people live chiefly in the Orinoco Delta region of northeastern Venezuela, with smaller communities in southwestern Trinidad (Trinidad and Tobago), western Guyana and Suriname.[8] The language is considered endangered by UNESCO.[9]

Varieties

Historical sources mention ethnic groups in the Orinoco Delta such as Siawani (Chaguanes), Veriotaus (Farautes), and Tiuitiuas (Tibitíbis) that spoke Warao or languages closely related to modern Warao. Other extinct groups include:[10]: 1243 

Loukotka (1968) lists the following varieties:[11]

  • Guanoco – spoken on the Laguna de Asfalto, state of Monagas (unattested)
  • Chaguan – spoken in the Orinoco Delta on the Manamo branch (unattested)
  • Mariusa – spoken in the same region on the Cocuina and Macareo branches

Mason (1950) lists:[12]

  • Waikeri (Guaiqueri)
  • Chaguan
  • Mariusa

Phonology

The Warao consonant inventory is small, but not quite as small as many other South American inventories. It does not contain any notable exotica.

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain labialized
Plosive p t k kʷ
Fricative s h
Nasal m n
Tap ɺ
Approximant j w

The labial plosive /p/ is usually realized as voiced [b]. /ɺ/ has an allophone [d] word-initially and [ɾ] when between /i, a/ and /a/.

There are five oral vowels /a, ɛ, i, ɔ, u/ and five nasal vowels /ã, ẽ, ĩ, õ, ũ/. After /k/, in word-initial position, /u/ becomes [ɨ].[13]

Grammar

The language's basic word order has been analyzed as object–subject–verb, a very rare word order among nominative–accusative languages such as Warao.[14]

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Uarao (Warao) and Mariusa.[11]

gloss Uarao Mariusa
one isaka xisaka
two manámo manamo
three dianamu dixamo
head akua naxoto
eye kamu mu
tooth kai i
man nibora
water ho xo
fire hekono xeunu
sun yá xokoxi
manioc aru aru
jaguar tobe tobe
house xanóko ubanoko

References

  1. ^ Warao at Ethnologue (19th ed., 2016) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Warao". www.jorojokowarao.de. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  3. ^ Vargas, Andrew S. (10 September 2015). "Venezuela's First Film Shot in the Warao Language Is Chosen as Entry for the Oscars". Remezcla. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  4. ^ Campbell, Lyle (2012). "Classification of the indigenous languages of South America". In Grondona, Verónica; Campbell, Lyle (eds.). The Indigenous Languages of South America. The World of Linguistics. Vol. 2. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 59–166. ISBN 9783110255133.
  5. ^ a b Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages - The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 0-19-509427-1. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  6. ^ Julian Granberry, A Grammar and Dictionary of the Timucua Language, pp. 15-32
  7. ^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
  8. ^ "WARAO: a language of Venezuela", Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th Edition, 2000
  9. ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  10. ^ Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev, eds. (2023). Amazonian Languages: Language Isolates. Volume II: Kanoé to Yurakaré. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-043273-2.
  11. ^ a b Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  12. ^ Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
  13. ^ Osborn, Henry A. Jr. (1966). "Warao I: Phonology and Morphophonemics". International Journal of American Linguistics. 32 (2): 108–123. doi:10.1086/464890.
  14. ^ Romero-Figueroa, Andrés (1985). "OSV as the basic order in Warao". Lingua. 66 (2–3): 115–134. doi:10.1016/S0024-3841(85)90281-5.

Other sources

  • Osborn Jr, Henry A. (1966b). "Warao II: Nouns, Relationals, and Demonstratives". International Journal of American Linguistics. 32 (3): 253–261. doi:10.1086/464910. S2CID 144134134.
  • Barral, Basilio de. 1979. Diccionario Warao-Castellano, Castellano-Warao. Caracas: UCAB
  • Figeroa, Andrés Romero. 1997. A Reference Grammar of Warao. München, Newcastle: Lincom
  • Ponce, Peter. 2004. Diccionario Español - Warao. Fundación Turismo de Pedernales.
  • Vaquero, Antonio. 1965. Idioma Warao. Morfología, sintaxis, literatura. Estudios Venezolanos Indígenas. Caracas.
  • Wilbert, Johannes. 1964. Warao Oral Litrerature. Instituto Caribe de Antropología y Sociología. Fundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales. Monograph no 9 Caracas: Editorial Sucre.
  • Wilbert, Johannes. 1969. Textos Folklóricos de los Indios Warao. Los Angeles: Latin American Center. University of California. Latin American Studies Vol. 12.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Warao language.
Warao language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Warao word list

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