Waorani language

☆ Save On Wikipedia ↗
Waorani
Sabela, Awishiri
Wao Terero
Native toEcuador, Peru
RegionOriente or Ecuadorian Amazon
Ethnicity1,800 Waorani people (2012)[1]
Native speakers
2,000 (2004)[2]
Dialects
  • Tiwakuna
  • Tiwituey (Tuei)
  • Shiripuno
Official status
Official language in
Ecuador: indigenous languages official in own territories
Language codes
ISO 639-3auc
Glottologwaor1240
ELPWaorani

The Waorani (Huaorani) language, autonym: Wao Terero, earlier also known as Sabela and Awishiri[3] (also Wao, Huao, Auishiri, Aushiri, Ssabela; pejorative: "Auka", "Auca"[3]), is a vulnerable language isolate spoken by the Waorani people, an Indigenous people living in the Amazon rainforest between the Napo and Curaray Rivers in Ecuador. A small number of speakers among uncontacted groups may live in Peru.

Classification

Waorani is not known to be related to any other language.[3] However, it forms part of Terrence Kaufman's (2007) Yaguan branch of his Záparo-Yaguan proposal.[4] Marcelo Jolkesky (2016) also identifies a number of lexical similarities with Yaruro.[5]

Status

Multiilingalism is more common among the younger generations; monolinguals in Waorani tend to be elderly, and the number of Spanish monolinguals is increasing, as is bilingualism in Spanish, Shuar, and Lowland Kichwa.[3] Waorani is considered endangered due to growing bilingualism in Kichwa and Spanish and diminishing Waorani usage among youth.[1][6]

Geographical distribution

Waorani is primarily spoken in the Waorani Ethnic Reserve, which is the largest indigenous reserve in Ecuador. Other areas where it is spoken include Pastaza and Napo provinces (including the towns of Puyo and Coca), Yasuní National Park, and the Taromenani Tagaeri Intangible Zone.[3]: 1191 

Dialects

The Taromenani ‘people living at the end of the path’ are viewed as "culturally and linguistically “similar but different” from the Waorani". Speakers of the language distinguish variation across communitnes, such as variation in the realization of nasal spreading.[3]: 1193 

Phonology

Phonotactics

The syllable structure of Waorani is (C)V, with frequent vowel sequences.[3]

Consonants

The alveolar tap [ɾ] is an allophone of /d/, though written separately, and the palatal stop [ɟ] is an allophone of /j/. Nasal consonants are considered "semi-phonemic", as nasalization is, in some instances, clearly allophonic due to progressive, or rightward, nasalization.[3]

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Plosive Voiceless p t k
Voiced b d~ɾ ⟨d, r⟩ ɡ
Nasal (m w̃) (n) (ɲ ⟨ñ⟩) (ŋ ⟨ng⟩)
Approximant w ɟ~j ⟨y⟩

Vowels

Waorani distinguishes oral and nasal vowels, which are sometimes written using a diaeresis. Phonetic vowel length occurs, and appears contrastive, but is analyzed as sequences of two of the same vowel, sometimes thought to be due to consonant elision between vowels. Creaky-voiced or laryngeal vowels also occur at word and phrase boundaries, but their phonemic status is uncertain.[3]

FrontBack
OralNasalOralNasal
Close iĩ
Mid eẽoõ
Open æ ⟨e⟩æ̃ ⟨ẽ⟩aã

Suprasegmentals

Stress in Waorani is predictable, as in CVV syllables (where C is a wildcard symbol for any consonant and V is a wildcard for any vowel), stress falls on the final syllable, but in CV syllables, it falls on the penultimate syllable.[3]

Morphology

Pronouns

Waorani distinguishes inclusive pronouns and singular, dual, and plural number.

References

  1. Sabela at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. "Waorani". UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger. UNESCO. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
  3. Fawcett, Alexia Z. (2023-01-16), "27 Wao Terero", Language Isolates II: Kanoé to Yurakaré, De Gruyter, pp. 1191–1242, doi:10.1515/9783110432732-014, ISBN 978-3-11-043273-2, retrieved 2026-05-14
  4. Kaufman, Terrence (2007). "South America". In Asher, R. E.; Moseley, Christopher (eds.). Atlas of the World's Languages (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. pp. 59–94. ISBN 978-0-415-31074-1.
  5. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
  6. Fawcett, Alexia Zandra (May 2012). "Documenting Language, Culture, and Cognition: Language and Space among the Waorani" (PDF). Anthropology and Linguistic Department, Bryn Mawr College. Retrieved 21 September 2017.

Bibliography

  • Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
  • Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language History in South America: What We Know and How to Know More. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), Amazonian Linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American languages (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70414-3.
  • Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The Native Languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the World's Languages (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.
  • Peeke, M. Catherine. (2003). A Bibliography of the Waorani of Ecuador. SIL International. Retrieved 2021 April 4 from https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/7801
  • Pike, Evelyn G and Rachel Saint. 1988. Workpapers Concerning Waorani discourse features. Dallas, TX: SIL.
  • Rival, Laura. Trekking through History: The Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador, Columbia University Press, 2002.