Akurio, also known as Akuriyó, is an

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

Cariban language The Cariban languages are a Language family, family of languages Indigenous to north-eastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spok ...

. It was used by the Akurio people in

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

until the late 20th century. The group then began using the Trío language. Akuriyo does not have a

writing system A writing system comprises a set of symbols, called a ''script'', as well as the rules by which the script represents a particular language. The earliest writing appeared during the late 4th millennium BC. Throughout history, each independen ...

Status

The last native speaker is believed to have died in the first decade of the 2000s. During this period, only 10 people were estimated to have Akuriyó as a second language. By 2012, only two semi-speakers remained. Sepi Akuriyó, one of the last surviving speakers of Akuriyó, went missing 2 December 2018, when a small plane carrying 8 people disappeared during a flight over the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

. The search and rescue operation was called off after two weeks.

Phonology

References

Languages of Suriname Cariban languages Endangered Indigenous languages of the Americas {{Na-lang-stub