Huaorani language

Sabela
Huaorani / Waorani, Wao Terero
Spoken in	Ecuador, Peru
Region	Oriente or Ecuadorian Amazon
Ethnicity	Huaorani people
Native speakers	1,600–2,000  (date missing)
Language family	Language isolate
Official status
Official language in	Ecuador: indigenous languages official in own territories
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-3	auc

The Huaorani (Waorani) language, commonly known as Sabela (also Wao, Huao, Auishiri, Aushiri, Ssabela ; autonym: Wao Terero; pejorative: Auka, Auca) is a language isolate spoken by the Huaorani people, an indigenous group living in the Amazon Rainforest between the Napo and Curaray Rivers. A small number of speakers with so-called uncontacted groups may live in Peru.

Contents 1 Phonology 2 Regional variation 3 Genetic relations 4 See also 5 External links 6 Bibliography

Phonology

Syllable structure is V and CV, with frequent vowel clusters.

p	t		k
b	d~ɾ	ɟ~j	ɡ
m	n	ɲ	ŋ
w

i
e	ɵ~o~ɣ
æ	a

ĩ
ẽ	ɵ̃~õ~ɣ̃
æ̃	ã

Regional variation

Huaorani has 3 varieties:

1. Tiguacuna (also known as Tiwakuna)
2. Tuei (also known as Tiwi Tuei, Tiwi)
3. Shiripuno

Genetic relations

Various hypothetical groupings have included Huaorani:

• Terrence Kaufman's Yawan proposal
• Joseph Greenberg's Andean grouping
• Morris Swadesh's Macro-Jíbaro
• Jorge Suárez's Hívaro–Kawapana

See also

• Huaorani

External links

• Huaorani language at Ethnologue
• Entry for Huaorani at Rosetta Project
• Lengua Sabela
• Huaorani - Spanish Dictionary
• Waorani language dictionary online from IDS (select simple or advanced browsing)

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the world (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com).
• 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. ISBN 0-292-70414-3.
• 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 2007 December 26 from http://www.sil.org/silewp/2003/silewp2003-006.pdf
• Rival, Laura. Trekking Through History: The Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador, Columbia University Press, 2002.