Warao
StatesVenezuela, Guyana, Suriname
EthnicityWarao
Speakers32,800
Date2005–2011
Refe19
FamilycolorAmerican
FamilyLanguage isolate or Waroid
Iso 3wba
Glottowara1303
GlottorefnameWarao
NationVenezuela
AltnameGuarauno

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.[1] The 2015 Venezuelan film Gone with the River was spoken in Warao.[2]

Classification

Warao appears to be a language isolate, unrelated to any recorded language in the region or elsewhere.[3] The Waikerí of Nueva Esparta reported that their language was related to Warao, but nothing is preserved of it.[4]

Terrence Kaufman (1994) included it in his hypothetical Macro-Paezan family, but the necessary supporting work was never done.[5]

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Cariban, Arutani, Jukude, and Sape language families due to contact within an earlier Guiana Highlands interaction sphere.[6]

Geographical distribution

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.[7] The language is considered endangered by UNESCO.[8]

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:[9]: 1243

Mason (1950) lists:[10]

Phonology

The Warao consonant inventory is small, but not quite as small as many other South American inventories.

LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
plainlabialized
Plosiveptkkʷ
Fricativesh
Nasalmn
Tapɺ
Approximantjw

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.[11]

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.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Warao". www.jorojokowarao.de. Retrieved 2013-09-22.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Campbell, Lyle (2012). "Classification of the indigenous languages of South America". The Indigenous Languages of South America. Vol. 2. The World of Linguistics. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 59–166. ISBN 9783110255133.
  4. ^ Humboldt, Alexander: Reise in die Äquinoctial-gegenden des Neuen Kontinents (1991). Insel Verlag. Primer Tomo. Pág. 229. ISBN 3-458-16947-4.
  5. ^ 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. ^ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation). 2 ed. Brasília: University of Brasília.
  7. ^ "WARAO: a language of Venezuela", Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th Edition, 2000
  8. ^ "UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger". www.unesco.org. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 6. Steward, Julian (ed.). Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
  11. ^ Osborn, Henry A. Jr. (1966). "Warao I: Phonology and Morphophonemics". International Journal of American Linguistics. 32 (2): 108–123. doi:10.1086/464890
  12. ^ 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.