The Waorani (Huaorani) language, commonly known as Sabela (also ''Wao, Huao, Auishiri, Aushiri, Ssabela'' ;

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

: Wao Terero; pejorative: ''Auka, Auca'') is a vulnerable

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...

spoken by the

Huaorani The Huaorani, Waorani, or Waodani, also known as the Waos, are an Indigenous people from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador ( Napo, Orellana, and Pastaza Provinces) who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate ...

people, an

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

group living in the

Amazon rainforest The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...

between the Napo and

Curaray River The Curaray River (also called the Ewenguno River or Rio Curaray) is a river in eastern Ecuador and Peru. It is a tributary of the Napo River, which is a part of the Amazon basin. The land along the river is home to several indigenous people group ...

s in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. A small number of speakers with so-called uncontacted groups may live in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. Huaorani is considered endangered due to growing bilingualism in Quechua and Spanish and diminishing Huaorani usage among youth.

Dialects

Huaorani has three dialects: ''Tiguacuna (Tiwakuna), Tuei (Tiwi Tuei, Tiwi),'' and ''Shiripuno.''

Language relations

Sabela is not known to be related to any other language. However, it forms part of

Terrence Kaufman Terrence Kaufman (1937 – March 3, 2022) was an American linguist specializing in documentation of unwritten languages, lexicography, Mesoamerican historical linguistics and language contact phenomena. He was an emeritus professor of linguisti ...

's Yawan proposal. Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with

Yaruro The Yaruro people (or Pumé, according to their self-determination) are a Circum-Caribbean indigenous people, native to the ecoregion of Llanos in Venezuela, located west of the Orinoco River.

Phonology

Huaorani distinguishes

nasal vowel A nasal vowel is a vowel that is produced with a lowering of the soft palate (or velum) so that the air flow escapes through the nose and the mouth simultaneously, as in the French vowel or Amoy []. By contrast, oral vowels are produced with ...

s from oral ones. Syllable structure is (C)V, with frequent vowel clusters. The allophones of /o/ range from [ɵ, o, ʊ, ɤ] and the allophones of /õ/ have a similar range, �̃, õ, ʊ̃, ɤ̃ and allophones of /e, ẽ/ can be heard as �, ɪ̃ The

alveolar tap Alveolus (; pl. alveoli, adj. alveolar) is a general anatomical term for a concave cavity or pit. Uses in anatomy and zoology * Pulmonary alveolus, an air sac in the lungs ** Alveolar cell or pneumocyte ** Alveolar duct ** Alveolar macrophage * M ...

�is an allophone of /d/ and the

palatal glide The voiced palatal approximant, or yod, is a type of consonant used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j, and in the Americanist phonetic ...

is an allophone of /ɟ/.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Sabela and Tiwituey. :

References

Bibliography

* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press. . * Greenberg, Joseph H. (1987). ''Language in the Americas''. Stanford: Stanford University Press. * Kaufman, Terrence. (1990). Language History in South America: What We Know and How to Know More. In D. L. Payne (Ed.), ''Amazonian Linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American languages'' (pp. 13–67). Austin: University of Texas Press. . * Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The Native Languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), ''Atlas of the World's Languages'' (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge. * Peeke, M. Catherine. (2003). ''A Bibliography of the Waorani of Ecuador''. SIL International. Retrieved 2021 April 4 from https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/7801 *Pike, Evelyn G and Rachel Saint. 1988. Workpapers Concerning Waorani discourse features. Dallas, TX: SIL. * Rival, Laura. ''Trekking through History: The Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador'', Columbia University Press, 2002.

External links

Lengua SabelaWaorani language dictionary online from IDS
(select simple or advanced browsing)
Waorani
(

Intercontinental Dictionary Series The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is Bernard Comrie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary A ...

) {{Authority control Language isolates of South America Languages of Ecuador Indigenous languages of the South American Northern Foothills Endangered indigenous languages of the Americas Endangered language isolates Huaorani