Warázu language

Warázu, also known as Pauserna or Guarasugwé (Guarasú'we), is a moribund Tupi–Guaraní language of Bolivia.[1] It is spoken by the Guarasugwé people, who were estimated to number 125 according to a census in 2012.[3]

Warázu
Pauserna
Guarasugwé
Native toBolivia
RegionBeni Department, Bolivia and Rondônia, Brazil
Ethnicity46 (2000)
Native speakers
2 (2017)[1]
Tupian
Language codes
ISO 639-3psm
Glottologpaus1244
ELPPauserna[2]

Classification

Warázu is most closely related to Sirionó and Yuki (Yuqui). Ramirez (2017) places the classification of Warázu in the Guaraní subgroup of the Tupi-Guarani languages as follows:[1]

Names

Speakers are also known as Guaraiutá, Guaraju, Pauserna, Guarasugwe, or Warazúkwe [waɾaðúkwe].[1]

Demographics

Ramirez (2017) found only 2 remaining speakers of Warázu, an elderly couple consisting of Känä́tsi [kənə́tsi] (José Frei Leite) and Híwa (Ernestina Moreno). They were born in Riozinho (Urukuríti) in Rondônia, Brazil, and moved back and forth between Brazil and Bolivia until finally settling in Pimenteiras do Oeste, Rondônia.[1]

Traditionally, the Warázu people had lived in the following 7 villages along the banks of the Guaporé River. However, the Warázu language is no longer spoken in these localities.

  • Riozinho (Urukurɨ́ti) (on the banks of the Riozinho River, a tributary of the Guaporé River), Brazil
  • Acurizal, Brazil
  • Campo Grande (on the banks of the Paragúa River, a tributary of the Guaporé River), Bolivia
  • Bella Vista, Bolivia
  • Jangada, Bolivia
  • Barranco Vermelho, Bolivia
  • Flechas, Bolivia

Phonology

Phonological inventory of Warázu:[1]

Consonants
ptkʔ
mn
r
w/kʷðh
ts

Allophones:

  • [ɲ], allophone of /n/
  • [ɾʲ], allophone of /ɾ/
  • [tʲ], allophone of /t/
  • [ʝ]], allophone of /ð/

Vowels
iɨu
eəo
a

Syllabic structure is (C)V or (C)VV.

Pronouns

Warázu pronouns:[1]

pronounWarázu
Itsé
you (sg.)né [á-pe]
we (excl.)óre
we (incl.)ðáne
you (pl.)pé [peðó-pe]
he, sheáʔe

Vocabulary

For a list of Warázu plant and animal names from Ramirez (2017),[1] see the corresponding Portuguese article.

Further reading
  • Anonymous (2015). Diccionario flora y fauna gwarasu. Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Talleres Gráficos Kipus.
  • Riester, Jürgen (1972). Die Pauserna-Guarasug’wä. Monographie eines Tupi-Guaraní-Volkes in Ostbolivien. St. Augustin bein Bonn: Verlag des Anthropos-Instituts.
  • Riester, Jürgen (1976). En busca de la Loma Santa. Indígenas en el Oriente Boliviano. Análisis de su situación actual. La Paz: Editorial Los Amigos del Libro.
  • Riester, Jürgen (1977). Los Guarasug’wé: Crónica de sus últimos días. La Paz: Editorial Los Amigos del Libro.

References
  1. Ramirez, Henri; Vegini, Valdir; França, Maria Cristina Victorino de (2017). "O warázu do Guaporé (tupi-guarani): Primeira descrição linguística" [Warázu of Guaporé (Tupi-Guarani): first linguistic description]. LIAMES (in Portuguese). 17 (2): 411–506. doi:10.20396/liames.v17i0.8647468.
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Pauserna.
  3. "Censo de Población y Vivienda 2012 Bolivia Características de la Población" [Population and Housing Census 2012 Bolivia Characteristics of the Population]. Instituto Nacional de Estadística, República de Bolivia (in Spanish). p. 29.
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