Mawayana (Mahuayana), also known as Mapidian (Maopidyán), is a moribund
Arawakan language
Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branch ...
of northern South America. It used to be spoken by people living in ethnic
Wai-wai and
Tiriyó villages in
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
and
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
.
As of 2015, the last two speakers of the language are living in
Kwamalasamutu.
Classification
lists Mawayana (and possibly Mawakwa as a dialect) together with
Wapishana
The Wapishana or Wapichan (or Wapisiana, Wapitxana, Vapidiana, Wapixana) are an indigenous group found in the Roraima area of northern Brazil and southern Guyana.
Location
Currently the Wapishana are located in the State of Roraima, Brazil, nort ...
under a Rio Branco (North-Arawak) branch of the Arawakan family. notes that Mawayana "is closely related to Wapishana" and according to they share at least 47% of their lexicon.
Phonology
Mawayana has, among its consonants, two
implosives, and , and what has been described as a "retroflex fricativised rhotic", represented with , that it shares with
Wapishana
The Wapishana or Wapichan (or Wapisiana, Wapitxana, Vapidiana, Wapixana) are an indigenous group found in the Roraima area of northern Brazil and southern Guyana.
Location
Currently the Wapishana are located in the State of Roraima, Brazil, nort ...
. The vowel systems contains four vowels (), each of which has a nasalised counterpart.
Consonants
Vowels
Mawayana vowel phonemes:
:
:
Vowels have both nasal and length contrast.
Morphology
:
:
Morphosyntax
Mawayana has a polysynthetic morphology, mainly head-marking and with suffixes, although there are pronominal prefixes. The verbal arguments are indexed on the verb through subject suffixes on intransitive verbs, while agent prefixes and object suffixes on transitive verbs .
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
The Last of the Mawayanaby ''Unravel magazine''
{{Arawakan languages
Arawakan languages
Languages of Suriname
Endangered Arawakan languages