Aikanã language

Aikanã (sometimes called Tubarão,[3] Corumbiara/Kolumbiara, or Huari/Uari/Wari) is an endangered language isolate[1] spoken by about 200 Aikanã people in Rondônia,[4] Brazil. It is morphologically complex and has SOV word order.[5] Aikanã uses the Latin script. The people live with speakers of Koaia (Kwaza).

Aikanã
Tubarão, Huari
Native to	Brazil
Region	Rondônia
Native speakers	200 (2007)[1]
Language family	Language isolate
Dialects	Masaká
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tba
Glottolog	aika1237[2]

Classification

Van der Voort (2005) observes similarities among Aikanã, Kanoê, and Kwaza, but believes the evidence is not strong enough to definitively link the three languages together as part of a single language family. Hence, Aikanã is best considered to be a language isolate.[6]

Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with Kanoe, Kwaza, and Nambikwara due to contact.[7]

Varieties

Varieties listed by Loukotka (1968):[8]

• Huari (Corumbiara) - spoken between the Corumbiara River and Guarajú River, Rondônia
• Masaca (Aicana) - spoken on the left bank of the Corumbiara River
• Aboba - extinct language once spoken on the Guarajú River
• Maba - extinct language once spoken on the Guajejú River (unattested)
• Puxacaze - once spoken on the Guajejú River, Brazil (unattested)
• Guajejú - once spoken at the sources of the Jamarí River and Candeia River (unattested)

Phonology

Phonological inventory:[9]

Vowels

Oral vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i y		u
Mid	ɛ ø	a~ə
Open

Nasal vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	ĩ		ũ
Mid	ɛ̃
Open		ã

Consonants

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m /m/	n /n/	ñ /ɲ/
Stop	p /p/ b /b/	t /t/ d /d/		k /k/	’ /ʔ/
Fricative		s /s/ th /ð/			j/h /h/
Affricates		ts /t͡s~t͡ʃ/
Trills		r /r/
Approximant	w /w/	l /l/	y /j~ʒ/

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Huari and Masaca, as well as Capixana.[8]

gloss	Huari	Masaca	Capixana
one	amemeeː	amäme	pátairä
two	arukai	atuka	kãerá
three		ümaitü	piakaúkä
head	chimé	tinupá	i-kutá
ear	ka-niyú	ka-nĩgó	i-tẽyõ
tooth	múi	mõiː	i-pé
hand	iné	iné	i-so
woman	chikichíki	dätiá	míaʔä
water	hané	hánä	kuni
fire	íne	íné	iní
stone	huahuá	urorä	akí
maize	atití	ákí	atití
tapir	arimé	alümä	itsá

Aikanã plant and animal names from Silva (2012)[10] are listed in the corresponding Portuguese article.

Further reading

• Vasconcelos, I. P. (2004). Aspectos da fonologia e morfologia da língua Aikanã. Maceió: Universidade Federal de Alagoas. (Masters dissertation).

References

1. Hein van der Voort (2007). "Theoretical and social implications of language documentation and description on the eve of destruction in Rondônia" (PDF). Retrieved 2009-05-10.
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Aikanã". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Hein van der Voort (2004). A Grammar of Kwaza. Walter de Gruyter. p. 9. ISBN 3-11-017869-9.
4. "Ethnologue report for language code:tba". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
5. "Aikana Language and the Aikanã Indian Tribe". Native Languages of the Americas website. 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
6. Van der Voort, Hein. 2005. Kwaza in a comparative perspective. International Journal of American Linguistics 71: 365–412.
7. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
8. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
9. "Aikana Pronunciation Guide". Native Languages of the Americas website. 2008. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
10. Silva, Maria de Fátima dos Santos da. 2012. Dicionário de raízes da língua aikanã. M.A. dissertation, Universidade Federal de Rondônia, Guajará-Mirim campus. (PDF)

• Alain Fabre, 2005, Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: AIKANA