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Urarina is an isolated language spoken in
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, specifically in the Loreto Region of Northwest Peru, by the
Urarina people The Urarina are an indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon Basin ( Loreto) who inhabit the valleys of the Chambira, Urituyacu, and Corrientes Rivers. According to both archaeological and historical sources, they have resided in the Chambira Ba ...
. There are around 3,000 speakers in
Urarinas District Urarinas District is one of five districts of the province Loreto in Peru. In addition to Jivaroan-speaking peoples, a major indigenous Amazonian group residing in this District is the Urarina The Urarina are an indigenous people of the Pe ...
(along the
Chambira River The Chambira River is a major tributary of the Marañón River, and has been the traditional territory of the Urarina peoples for at least the past 350 years, if not longer. Located in the Amazon jungle of Peru, otherwise known as the Selva, the ...
). It uses a
Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern ...
. It is also known as Itucali, Simacu or Shimacu. It has a canonical word order of object–verb–subject.


Classification

The classification of Urarina remains contentious: academics have placed the language in at least four different language families including Panoan, Tupian, Macro-Tucanoan, and Amerind. However, the proposed language families share few similarities with Urarina, meaning it is likely best described as either “unclassified” or as a
language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...
. It is usually assumed that it is a language isolate given Urarina’s complete lack of lexical overlap with any languages surrounding Urarina territory.


Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the
Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Greate ...
,
Leko Leko may refer to: * Leko (surname) * Leko languages, a small group of African Savanna languages * Leco language, a moribund isolate language of Bolivia * Lekolite or Leko, a type of stage spotlight * Alexandro da Silva Santos or Leko, Brazilian ...
, and Omurano language families due to contact.


Status

Urarina is currently spoken by the 2,000-3,000 members of the Urarina tribe, the majority of whom have retained the ability to speak the language. However, bilingualism and use of Spanish in everyday life is on the rise, as more and more Spanish-speaking mestizos have immigrated to the valley where the Urarina live. While there is a bilingual education system, most bilingual schools almost exclusively use Spanish, as the majority of the teachers do not speak Urarina. The version of Urarina that is spoken by younger generations has lost a substantial degree of grammatical complexity and vocabulary, as correlated to the loss of traditional cultural practices and beliefs. The language is considered potentially endangered.


Phonology

The following is the phonology of Urarina as described by Olawsky.


Consonants


Vowels


Grammar

Urarina has several rare grammatical characteristics. The language follows the OVS word order: of all the languages that use OVS word order, Urarina is among the strictest adherents to this word order in speech. Another feature of Urarina is its complex system on all verbs (excluding borrowings). Every verb is marked according to one of three paradigms, as determined by a complicated set of pragmatic and syntactic conditions. Urarina follows a similarly unique word class system. Numerals and adjectives that are borrowed from Quechua and Spanish are placed in a completely separate class from indigenous Urarina words. Urarina also follows syntactic rules wherein the pitch-accent system changes the tone of a word, based on the preceding word class. The language's set of unique features has recently garnered special attention from linguists. However, Urarina's distinctive grammatical features are gradually disappearing as younger generations speak a Urarina that is being influenced by a growing bilingualism in Spanish Like many other Amazonian languages, Urarina follows a polysynthetic, agglutinative word morphology in relating to verbs.


Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Itucale. :


Flora and fauna

List of selected plant and animal names in Urarina:


References

*


Further reading

*Olawsky, K. (2006). ''A Grammar of Urarina''. (Mouton Grammar Library, 37). Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter. *Wise, Mary Ruth. (1999). "Small Language Families and Isolates in Peru" in ''The Amazonian Languages''. Dixon, R. M. W. and Aikhenvald, Alexandra (ed.) {{South American languages Language isolates of South America Object–verb–subject languages Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia Endangered language isolates