The Waorani (Huaorani) language, commonly known as Sabela (also ''Wao, Huao, Auishiri, Aushiri, Ssabela'' ;
autonym
Autonym may refer to:
* Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym
* Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name
See also
* Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...
: Wao Terero; pejorative: ''Auka, Auca'') is a vulnerable
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 num ...
spoken by the
Huaorani
The Huaorani, Waorani, or Waodani, also known as the Waos, are an Indigenous people from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador ( Napo, Orellana, and Pastaza Provinces) who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate ...
people, an
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
group living in the
Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
between the
Napo and
Curaray River
The Curaray River (also called the Ewenguno River or Rio Curaray) is a river in eastern Ecuador and Peru. It is a tributary of the Napo River, which is a part of the Amazon basin. The land along the river is home to several indigenous people gro ...
s in
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...
. A small number of speakers with so-called
uncontacted
Uncontacted peoples are groups of indigenous peoples living without sustained contact with neighbouring communities and the world community. Groups who decide to remain uncontacted are referred to as indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. L ...
groups may live 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 = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
.
Huaorani is considered endangered due to growing bilingualism in Quechua and Spanish and diminishing Huaorani usage among youth.
Dialects
Huaorani has three dialects: ''Tiguacuna (Tiwakuna), Tuei (Tiwi Tuei, Tiwi),'' and ''Shiripuno.''
Language relations
Sabela is not known to be related to any other language. However, it forms part of
Terrence Kaufman
Terrence Kaufman (1937 – March 3, 2022) was an American linguist specializing in documentation of unwritten languages, lexicography, Mesoamerican historical linguistics and language contact phenomena. He was an emeritus professor of linguist ...
's
Yawan proposal.
Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with
Yaruro
The Yaruro people (or Pumé, according to their self-determination) are a Circum-Caribbean indigenous people, native to the ecoregion of Llanos in Venezuela, located west of the Orinoco River. .
Phonology
Huaorani distinguishes
nasal vowel
A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced wit ...
s from oral ones. Syllable structure is (C)V, with frequent vowel clusters. The allophones of /o/ range from [ɵ, o, ʊ, ɤ] and the allophones of /õ/ have a similar range,
µÌƒ, õ, ʊ̃, ɤ̃ and allophones of /e, ẽ/ can be heard as
ª, ɪ̃ The
alveolar tap Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit.
Uses in anatomy and zoology
* Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs
** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte
** Alveolar duct
** Alveolar macrophage
* M ...
¾is an allophone of /d/ and the
palatal glide
The voiced palatal approximant, or yod, is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic no ...
is an allophone of /ÉŸ/.
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Sabela and Tiwituey.
:
References
Bibliography
* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. .
* Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). ''Language in the Americas''. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
* 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. .
* 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.
External links
Lengua SabelaWaorani language dictionary online from IDS(select simple or advanced browsing)
Waorani(
Intercontinental Dictionary Series
The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is Bernard Comrie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary An ...
)
{{Authority control
Language isolates of South America
Languages of Ecuador
Indigenous languages of the South American Northern Foothills
Endangered indigenous languages of the Americas
Endangered language isolates
Huaorani