Waiwai language (original) (raw)

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Cariban language spoken in Brazil and Guyana

Waiwai
Native to Brazil, Guyana, Suriname
Ethnicity Wai-Wai
Native speakers (2,200 cited 1990–2006)[1]
Language family Cariban ParukotoanWaiwai languagesWaiwai
Dialects Katawiana Karafawyana
Language codes
ISO 639-3 waw
Glottolog waiw1244
ELP WaiwaiTunayana

Waiwai [2] (Uaiuai, Uaieue, Ouayeone) is a Cariban language of northern Brazil, with a couple hundred speakers across the border in southern Guyana and Suriname.

Katawiana, or Parukuto, is a dialect; Karafawyana[3] is unattested and uncontacted[4] but may be the same.[5]

| | Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | - | | Stop | | t | tʃ | | k | | | Nasal | m | n | | ɲ | | | | Fricative | ɸ | s | ʃ | | | h | | Tap | | ɺ | ɭ̥̆ | | | | | Approximant | w | | | j | | |

| | Front | Central | Back | | | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------- | ---- | | High | i iː | ɨ ɨː | u uː | | Mid | e eː | | o oː | | Low | a aː | | |

  1. ^ Waiwai at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Bauer, Laurie (2021). The linguistics student's handbook (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-1-4744-7410-8.
  3. ^ Hornborg, Alf; Hill, Jonathan David (2011). Ethnicity in ancient Amazonia: reconstructing past identities from archaeology, linguistics, and ethnohistory. Boulder, CO: University Press of Colorado. ISBN 978-1-60732-094-4.
  4. ^ "Isolados do Jatapu–Karapawyana – Indigenas do Brasil". 2015-12-03. Retrieved 2025-09-22.
  5. ^ Ethnologue, Editor (June 4, 2015). "ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Request for Change to ISO 639-3 Language Code" (PDF). iso639-3.sil.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2025-01-23. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  6. ^ Hawkins, Robert (1998). Wai Wai. Desmond Derbyshire and Geoffrey Pullum (eds.), Handbook of Handbook of Amazonian Languages, Vol. 4: Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. pp. 25–224.{{[cite book](/wiki/Template:Cite%5Fbook "Template:Cite book")}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: publisher location (link)