Warao language

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. The 2015 Venezuelan film Gone with the River was spoken in Warao.

Warao appears to be a language isolate, unrelated to any recorded language in the region or elsewhere. Terrence Kaufman (1994) 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.

Granberry noted "Waroid" vocabulary items in Taíno, such as nuçay or nozay [nosái] 'gold' in the Ciboney dialect (cf. Warao naséi símo 'gold' lit. 'yellow pebble') and duho 'ceremonial stool' in Classic Taíno (cf. Warao duhu 'sit, stool').

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.

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.

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. The language is considered endangered by UNESCO.

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:

• Aricari and Pirao from Cayenne
• Guaiqueri from Margarita Island

Loukotka (1968) lists the following varieties:

• 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:

• Waikeri (Guaiqueri)
• Chaguan
• Mariusa

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

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].

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.

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

• 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.

• Warao-Spanish dictionary
• Warao Language by Stefanie Herrmann