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Akurio (Eastern Maroon Creole: Awayaikuletongo),[3] also known as Akuriyó, is an extinct Cariban language. It was spoken by the Akurio people in Suriname until the late 20th century, after which they switched to the closely related Tiriyó language. Akurio has since undergone heavy influence from Tiriyó, and was replaced by it, with the last native speakers being reported to have died in 2002. Only three people could remember the language in 2012.
| Akuriyó | |
|---|---|
| Akurio | |
| Native to | Suriname |
| Region | Sipaliwini District |
| Ethnicity | 40 Akurio people (2012)[1] |
| Extinct | 2002[2] 2 semi-speakers (2012) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ako |
| Glottolog | akur1238 |
| ELP | Akuriyo |
 | |
 Akuriyo is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Name
editClassification
editAkurio is a Cariban language belonging to the Taranoan subgroup. Other Taranoan languages include Tiriyó, which is the closest language to Akurio, and Carijona, spoken in Colombia.[4]
History
editThe Akurio people were first contacted by outsiders in 1937, during Conrad Carel Käyser's expedition to the Oelemari River. The next year, Willem Ahlbrinck, a Catholic missionary, who called them Wama, contacted the Akurio again. Claudius de Goeje published vocabularies of "Wama" recorded from these expeditions in his 1946 book Études linguistiques caraïbes.[5] No further contact was made until 1968, when some Wayana people met a group of Akurio by chance,[6] prompting missionaries to immediately begin resettling them into sedentary settlements, particularly the Tiriyó villages of Kwamalasamutu and Tepoe. This led to the rapid adoption of the Tiriyó language. Uncontacted groups of Akurio are thought to still live along the upper Oelemari and in the Oranje Mountains, and may still speak Akurio without influence from Tiriyó.[4]: 11–13
The last native speakers of Akurio died in 2002. During this period, only ten people were estimated to have Akuriyó as a second language.[1] By 2012, only three semi-speakers remained.[7] Sepi Akuriyó, one of the last surviving speakers of Akuriyó, went missing 2 December 2018, when a small plane carrying eight people disappeared during a flight over the Amazon rainforest. The search and rescue operation was called off after two weeks.[8]
Phonology
editNotes
edit- ↑ The flap is slightly retroflex with some lateral release.
References
edit- 1 2 Akurio at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ↑ Campbell, Lyle; Grondona, Verónica María, eds. (2012). The indigenous languages of South America: a comprehensive guide. The world of linguistics. Berlin; Boston: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-025513-3.
- ↑ "Aukan–English Dictionary". SIL Global.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Meira, Sérgio (1998). A Reconstruction of Proto-Taranoan: Phonology and Morphology (PDF) (masters thesis). Rice University.
- ↑ Goeje, C. H. de (1909–46). Études linguistiques caraïbes. Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandsche Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde. Nieuwe reeks, deel 10, no.3; deel 49, no.2. Amsterdam: J. Müller.
- ↑ Boer, M.W.H. de (1 January 1970). "Report of a contact with Stone-age Indians in Surinam". New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids. 47 (1): 249–259. doi:10.1163/22134360-90002237. ISSN 1382-2373.
- ↑ Crevels, Mily (13 January 2012), "Language endangerment in South America: The clock is ticking", in Campbell, Lyle; Grondona, Verónica (eds.), The Indigenous Languages of South America, DE GRUYTER, pp. 167–234, doi:10.1515/9783110258035.167, ISBN 978-3-11-025513-3, retrieved 1 May 2026
- ↑ "A scandal in the Amazon - where pilots are forced to lie". BBC News. 18 March 2019. Retrieved 18 March 2019.