Barawana (Baré) is an
Arawakan language
Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...
of
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
and
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, where it is nearly extinct. It was spoken by the
Baré people
The Baré, or Hanera, and Werekena are related indigenous people of northwest Brazil and Venezuela.
For many years they suffered from violent exploitation by Portuguese and Spanish merchants, forced to work as debt slaves.
They moved often to try t ...
. Aikhenvald (1999) reports "just a few old speakers left" of Baré proper, and that the Guinau variety was extinct. Kaufman (1994) considers Baré proper, Guinau, and Marawá (currently extinct) to be distinct languages; Aikhenvald, dialects of a single languages. (Marawá is not the same language as
Marawán.)
''Baré'' is a generic name for a number of Arawakan languages in the area, including
Mandahuaca,
Guarequena,
Baniwa
Baniwa (also known with local variants as Baniva, Baniua, Curipaco, Vaniva, Walimanai, Wakuenai) are indigenous South Americans, who speak the Baniwa language belonging to the Maipurean (Arawak) language family. They live in the Amazon Region, ...
, and
Piapoco
Piapoco is an Arawakan language of Colombia and Venezuela.
A "Ponares" language is inferred from surnames, and may have been Piapoco or Achagua.
History
Piapoco is a branch of the Arawak language, which also includes Achagua and Tariana. P ...
. Barawana is the language given this name in Kaufman, Aikhenvald, and ''Ethnologue''. It is also known as Ibini (a typo for Ihini ~ Arihini?) and Mitua.
Phonology
Vowels
Vowels can come in three forms; oral, nasal, and voiceless:
* Vowel sounds /a ã ḁ/, /e ẽ e̥/, and /u ũ u̥/ are heard as
ɵ̃ ɵ̥ ɛ̃ ɛ̥ and
õ o̥when in unstressed position.
*/a/ is heard as a back sound
when after /w/.
Consonants
* Sounds /t, n/ are realized as dentalized and palatal
̪, ɲbefore and after /i/.
*/d/ is realized as an affricate
͡ʒbefore front vowels.
*/ɾ/ can tend to fluctuate to a velarized
in free variation.
References
Languages of Brazil
Arawakan languages
Extinct languages of South America
{{Arawakan-lang-stub