Name
The ethnonym Waikuri and its variants likely originates from the Pericú word ''guaxoro'' 'friend'. Variations of the name include ''Waicuri, Waicuri, Guaicuri, Waicura, Guaycura, Guaicura, Waicuro, Guaicuro, Guaycuro, Vaicuro, Guaicuru, Guaycuru, Waikur''.Zamponi, Raoul. 2004. Fragments of Waikuri (Baja California). ''Anthropological Linguistics'' 46. 156–193.Classification
Baegert's data is analyzed by Raoul Zamponi (2004). On existing evidence, Guaycura appears to be unrelated to the Yuman languages to its north. Some linguists have suggested that it belonged to the widely scattered Hokan phylum of California and Mexico (Gursky 1966; Swadesh 1967); however, the evidence for this seems inconclusive (Laylander 1997; Zamponi 2004; Mixco 2006). William C. Massey (1949) suggested a connection with Pericú, but the latter is too meagerly attested to support a meaningful comparison. Other languages of southern Baja are essentially undocumented, though people have speculated from non-linguistic sources that Monqui (Monquí-Didiú), spoken in a small region around Loreto, may have been a 'Guaicurian' language, as perhaps was Huchití (Uchití), though that may have actually been a variety of Guaycura itself (Golla 2007). The internal classification of Guaicurian (Waikurian) languages is uncertain. Massey (1949), cited in Campbell (1997:169), gives this tentative classification based on similarity judgments given by colonial-era sources, rather than actual linguistic data. ;Guaicurian (Waikurian) *Guaicura branch **Guaocura (Waikuri) **Callejue *Huchiti branch **Cora **Huchiti **Aripe **Periúe *Pericú branch **Pericú **Isleño However, Laylander (1997) and Zamponi (2004) conclude that Waikuri and Pericú are unrelated.Phonology
Phonology of the Waikuri language:Consonants
Consonants were voiceless stops ''p t c k'' and maybe glottal stop; voiced ''b d'', nasal ''m n ny'', flap ''r'', trill ''rr'', and approximants ''w y''.Vowels
Waikuri had four vowels, /i, e, a, u/. Whether or not vowel length wasGrammar
The little we know of Guaycura grammar was provided by Francisco Pimentel, who analyzed a few verbs and phrases. Guaicura was a polysyllabic language that involved a lot of compounding. For example, 'sky' is ''tekerakadatemba'', from ''tekaraka'' (arched) and ''datemba'' (earth). Beagert and Pimentel agree that the plural is formed with a suffix ''-ma''. However, Pimentel also notes a prefix ''k-'' with the 'same' function. For example, ''kanai'' 'women', from ''anai'' 'woman'. According to Pimentel, the negation in ''-ra'' of an adjective resulted in its opposite, so from ''ataka'' 'good' is derived ''atakara'' 'bad'. Pronouns were as follows (Golla 2011):Text
The '' Pater Noster'' is recorded in Guaycura, with a literal gloss by Pimentel (1874: cap. XXV).Vocabulary
Waikuri vocabulary from Zamponi (2004), which was compiled primarily from 18th-century sources by Johann Jakov Baegert,Baegert, Johann Jakob. 1772. ''Nachrichten von der Amerikanischen Halbinsel Californien''. Mannheim: Thurfürstliche Hof- und Academia Buchdruckerei as well as from Lamberto Hostell and Francisco de Ortega:Nouns
Pronouns
Other parts of speech
References