Warao language

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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] Terrence Kaufman (1994) included it in his hypothetical Macro-Paezan family, but the necessary supporting work was never done.[4] 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.[5] 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.[4]

Waroid hypothesis

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Script error: No such module "labelled list hatnote". Granberry noted "Waroid" vocabulary items in Taíno, such as Script error: No such module "Lang". or Script error: No such module "Lang". [nosái] Template:Gloss in the Ciboney dialect (cf. Warao Script error: No such module "Lang". Template:Gloss Template:Lit) and Script error: No such module "Lang". Template:Gloss in Classic Taíno (cf. Warao Script error: No such module "Lang". Template:Gloss).

He also finds such similarities with Guajiro; from toponymic evidence it seems that the Warao or a related people once occupied Goajiro country. 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.[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]Template:Rp

Loukotka (1968) lists the following varieties:[10]

  • 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:[11]

  • Waikeri (Guaiqueri)
  • Chaguan
  • Mariusa

Phonology

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

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain labialized
Plosive Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Fricative Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Nasal Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink
Tap Template:IPAlink
Approximant Template:IPAlink Template:IPAlink

The labial plosive Template:IPAslink is usually realized as voiced Template:IPAblink. Template:IPAslink has an allophone Template:IPAblink word-initially and Template:IPAblink when between Script error: No such module "IPA". and Script error: No such module "IPA"..

There are five oral vowels Script error: No such module "IPA". and five nasal vowels Script error: No such module "IPA".. After Script error: No such module "IPA"., in word-initial position, Script error: No such module "IPA". becomes Template:IPAblink.[12]

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.[13]

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Uarao and Mariusa, both of which he considers dialects of the Uarao (Warao) parent language.[10]

gloss Uarao Mariusa
one Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
two Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
three Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
head Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
eye Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
tooth Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
man Script error: No such module "Lang".
water Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
fire Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
sun Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
manioc Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
jaguar Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".
house Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "Lang".

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Julian Granberry, A Grammar and Dictionary of the Timucua Language, pp. 15-32
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ "WARAO: a language of Venezuela", Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 14th Edition, 2000
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".

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Other sources

  • Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  • 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.

External links

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Template:Languages of Guyana Template:Languages of Suriname Template:Languages of Venezuela Script error: No such module "navbox". Template:South American languages Script error: No such module "Authority control".

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