Warao language
Warao[Jukude language|] 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. The 2015 Venezuelan film Gone with the River was spoken in Warao.
Classification
Warao appears to be a language isolate, unrelated to any recorded language in the region or elsewhere. Terrence Kaufman included it in his hypothetical Macro-Paezan family, but the necessary supporting work was never done. 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. 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.Waroid hypothesis
Granberry noted "Waroid" vocabulary items in Taíno, such as nuçay or nozay in the Ciboney dialect and duho in Classic Taíno.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 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 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.
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, western Guyana and Suriname. The language is considered endangered by UNESCO.Varieties
Historical sources mention ethnic groups in the Orinoco Delta such as Siawani, Veriotaus, and Tiuitiuas that spoke Warao or languages closely related to modern Warao. Other extinct groups include:- Aricari and Pirao from Cayenne
- Guaiqueri from Margarita Island
- Guanoco – spoken on the Laguna de Asfalto, state of Monagas
- Chaguan – spoken in the Orinoco Delta on the Manamo branch
- Mariusa – spoken in the same region on the Cocuina and Macareo branches
- Waikeri
- Chaguan
- ''Mariusa''
Phonology
The Warao consonant inventory is small, but not quite as small as many other South American inventories.The labial plosive is usually realized as voiced. has an allophone word-initially and when between and.
There are five oral vowels and five nasal vowels. After, in word-initial position, becomes.