Waiwai language

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

Waiwai /ˈwaɪwaɪ/^[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]

Phonology

Consonants

	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

Vowels

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

• /o/ can be heard as [ʌ] when following palatal consonants /tʃ, ʃ/.
• /a/ can be heard as [æ] when preceded by sounds /j, tʃ/, and followed by sounds /w, m, s/.^[6]

References

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.

External links

• Lev, Michael; Stark, Tammy; Chang, Will (2012). "Phonological inventory of Waiwai". The South American Phonological Inventory Database (version 1.1.3 ed.). Berkeley: University of California: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages Digital Resource.
• Waiwai Collection Archived 2023-12-18 at the Wayback Machine of Niels Fock from the Archive of the Indigenous Languages of Latin America, containing audio recordings of ceremonial chants and photographs made in the 1950s.
• Wai Wai (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)