Waiwai /ˈwaɪwaɪ/[2] (Uaiuai, Uaieue, Ouayeone) is a Cariban language of northern Brazil, with a couple hundred speakers across the border in southern Guyana and Suriname.
| Waiwai | |
|---|---|
| Wai Wai | |
| Native to | Brazil, Guyana, Suriname |
| Ethnicity | Wai-Wai |
Native speakers | (2,200 cited 1990–2006)[1] |
Cariban
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Brazil ( Amazonas) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | waw |
| Glottolog | waiw1244 |
| ELP | |
History
editThe Waiwai people are composed of an amalgamation of eight distinct peoples, these being the Mawayana, Hixkaryana, Katwena, Sherew, the uncontacted[3] Karafawyana,[4][5] Sikiana, Tunayana, and Parukoto. Two men of the Taruma people also lived among the Waiwai, but they died "several years" before 1998. A Waimiri-Atroari was also reported to live among them as of 1998, and a number of Tiriyó women had married into the Waiwai. The name "Waiwai" itself was originally applied to a now-extinct ninth group who spoke a language very similar to that of the Parukoto; the last original Waiwai died in the 1970s or earlier. All nine of these peoples had their own original languages or dialects. The Waiwai-Parukoto language subsequently became the lingua franca of these people, though some of the other languages were reported to still be used in the homes of the respective groups.[6]
Official status
editSince 2023, Waiwai has been one of 17 official languages of Amazonas state in Brazil.[7]
Phonology
editEquivalents in the Waiwai writing system are in ⟨angle brackets⟩.[6]
Consonants
edit| Labial | Alveolar | Alveopalatal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | t | tʃ ⟨c⟩ | k | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ ⟨n̂⟩ | |||
| Fricative | ɸ ⟨p⟩ | s | ʃ ⟨x⟩ | h | ||
| Tap | ɺ ⟨r⟩ | 𝼈 ⟨r̂⟩ | ||||
| Approximant | w | j ⟨y⟩ |
Consonants /t, s, ʃ, tʃ, n, ɲ, ɺ, 𝼈, j/ are part of the "tense" group, which are realized more tensely, and the "relaxed" group is composed of /k, m, ɸ, w/, which are pronounced more relaxedly.[6]
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i iː | ɨ ɨː ⟨î⟩ | u uː |
| Mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Low | a aː |
/o/ has an allophone of [ʌ] when following alveopalatal consonants /tʃ, ʃ/ (e.g. comota [tʃʌmota] 'forest', oyamoxoxon [ojamoʃʌʃʌn] 'my fingernail'). /a/ is realized as "less open and less low" [æ] when preceded by the consonants /j, tʃ/, and followed by /w, m, s/. Long vowels are written doubled.[6]
Writing system
editAs of 1998, 85% of Waiwai people, including "many" young people, were literate in their language.[6]
Morphology
editPronouns
editPersonal prefixes are more common than free pronouns in Waiwai; the latter are typically used when the person is considered "special or distinctive from others of a group".[6]
| Person | Animate | Inanimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-collective | Collective | ||
| 1 | owɨ | ||
| 1+2 | kɨɨwɨ | kɨwjam | |
| 1+3 | amna | ||
| 2 | amoro | amjamɺo | |
| Anaphoric | |||
| 3 | noro | ɲeʃamɺo | eɺo |
| Deictic | |||
| 3 remote | mɨkɨ, mɨkro | mɨkjam | mɨnɨ |
| 3 not far | moɺo | ||
| 3 near | moso | moʃam | on, tan |
Non-collective forms of a pronoun are used when "only the speaker and hearer are involved in an action", or as an indefinite pronoun; collective forms are used when there are multiple hearers.[6]
Kɨɨw
1+2P
mak
only
kajka.
let's.go
'Let's go, just you and I.'
Awom-ɺa
rise.up-NEG
t-∅-a-sɨ
1+2SBJ-be-SF-INP
kɨɨw
1+2PRO
ka-ji
high-from
ɺo
very
k-epɨɺka-tʃhe.
1+2-fall-after
'A person does not rise again after falling from very high.'
Sample text
editTaa,
all.right
on
this
wara
like
mak
just
ka
say
ʃe
DESI
w-∅-a-s
1SBJ-be-SF-INP
a-wja
2-to
oj-akno,
1POSR-brother
tan
here
aw-eʃi-taw
2-be-while
tʃuh-wa-ka-n
grass(forest)-LOC-to-NMLZR
komo
COLL
∅-tʃ-e-tkeɲe.
3SBJ-go-SF-UP+COLL
'All right, this is what I will say to you my brother, while you were here people went to the forest.'
References
edit- ↑ Waiwai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ↑ Bauer, Laurie (2021). The linguistics student's handbook (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-7410-8.
- ↑ "Isolados do Jatapu–Karapawyana – Indigenas do Brasil". 2015-12-03. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
- ↑ Hornborg, Alf; Hill, Jonathan David (2011). Ethnicity in ancient Amazonia: reconstructing past identities from archaeology, linguistics, and ethnohistory. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-1-60732-094-4.
- ↑ Ethnologue, Editor (June 4, 2015). "ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Request for Change to ISO 639-3 Language Code" (PDF). iso639-3.sil.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2025-01-23. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hawkins, Robert (1998). Wai Wai. Desmond Derbyshire and Geoffrey Pullum (eds.), Handbook of Handbook of Amazonian Languages, Vol. 4: Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 25–224.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: publisher location (link) - ↑ "Amazonas passa a ter 16 línguas indígenas oficiais; saiba quais são". G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2023-07-21. Retrieved 2026-05-14.
External links
edit- Lev, Michael; Stark, Tammy; Chang, Will (2012). "Phonological inventory of Waiwai". The South American Phonological Inventory Database (version 1.1.3 ed.). Berkeley: University of California: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages Digital Resource.
- Waiwai Collection Archived 2023-12-18 at the Wayback Machine of Niels Fock from the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America, containing audio recordings of ceremonial chants and photographs made in the 1950s.
- Wai Wai (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)