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Arutani language
Arutani (Orotani, Urutani, also known as Awake, Auake, Auaqué, Aoaqui, Oewaku, Uruak) is a nearly extinct language spoken in Roraima, Brazil and in the Karum River area of Bolivar State, Venezuela. There are only five or six speakers left.
Arutani is one of the most poorly attested extant languages in South America. The language is documented solely in a 1911 word list collected by Theodor Koch-Grünberg (1928: 308-313), a 1940 word list by Armellada & Matallana (1942: 101-110), and a 100-item Swadesh list by Migliazza (1978). There is also an unpublished Swadesh list by Fèlix Cardona i Puig from the 1930s-1940s, as well as an unpublished 200-item Swadesh list by Walter Coppens from 1970.
The language has been classified as a language isolate by most linguists. However, it has been grouped with neighbouring Sapé in a familly termed the Arutani–Sape languages; this was first proposed by Morris Swadesh and Joseph Greenberg, but was expanded by Terrence Kaufman to include nearby Máku as well.
Marcelo Jolkesky (2016) identifies a number of similarities in vocabulary in Arutani with the Máku, Sape, Warao, Tikuna-Yuri, and Tukano language families. He ascribes these to language contact between them. For instance, lexical similarities in Arutani with Tucanoan languages are mostly cultural loanwords. The Arutani and Tucanoan languages also have completely different pronominal systems, and sound correspondences are irregular. Thus, similarities between them can be attributed to contact with Eastern Tucanoan.
Čestmír Loukotka (1968) reports that it was previously spoken on the southern banks of Maracá Island in the Roraima, but later moved to the Uraricapara River near the Brazil–Venezuela border. Traditionally, Arutani was spoken along the Paragua River and Uraricaá River in southern Venezuela and the northern tip of Roraima, Brazil. The remaining speakers of Arutani are found in the following Ninam villages:
Ethnic Arutani also speak Ninam (Shirián), since they now mostly live in Ninam villages.
Stres in Arutani typically falls on the final syllable, though it has also been recorded on the penultimate syllable.
Arutani lacks lexical tone.
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Arutani language AI simulator
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Arutani language
Arutani (Orotani, Urutani, also known as Awake, Auake, Auaqué, Aoaqui, Oewaku, Uruak) is a nearly extinct language spoken in Roraima, Brazil and in the Karum River area of Bolivar State, Venezuela. There are only five or six speakers left.
Arutani is one of the most poorly attested extant languages in South America. The language is documented solely in a 1911 word list collected by Theodor Koch-Grünberg (1928: 308-313), a 1940 word list by Armellada & Matallana (1942: 101-110), and a 100-item Swadesh list by Migliazza (1978). There is also an unpublished Swadesh list by Fèlix Cardona i Puig from the 1930s-1940s, as well as an unpublished 200-item Swadesh list by Walter Coppens from 1970.
The language has been classified as a language isolate by most linguists. However, it has been grouped with neighbouring Sapé in a familly termed the Arutani–Sape languages; this was first proposed by Morris Swadesh and Joseph Greenberg, but was expanded by Terrence Kaufman to include nearby Máku as well.
Marcelo Jolkesky (2016) identifies a number of similarities in vocabulary in Arutani with the Máku, Sape, Warao, Tikuna-Yuri, and Tukano language families. He ascribes these to language contact between them. For instance, lexical similarities in Arutani with Tucanoan languages are mostly cultural loanwords. The Arutani and Tucanoan languages also have completely different pronominal systems, and sound correspondences are irregular. Thus, similarities between them can be attributed to contact with Eastern Tucanoan.
Čestmír Loukotka (1968) reports that it was previously spoken on the southern banks of Maracá Island in the Roraima, but later moved to the Uraricapara River near the Brazil–Venezuela border. Traditionally, Arutani was spoken along the Paragua River and Uraricaá River in southern Venezuela and the northern tip of Roraima, Brazil. The remaining speakers of Arutani are found in the following Ninam villages:
Ethnic Arutani also speak Ninam (Shirián), since they now mostly live in Ninam villages.
Stres in Arutani typically falls on the final syllable, though it has also been recorded on the penultimate syllable.
Arutani lacks lexical tone.