Arutani language

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title: "Arutani language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["arutani–sape-languages", "indigenous-languages-of-south-america", "languages-of-brazil", "languages-of-venezuela", "endangered-language-isolates", "language-isolates-of-south-america"] description: "Near-extinct indigenous language of Brazil and Venezuela" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arutani_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Near-extinct indigenous language of Brazil and Venezuela ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Arutani
nativename	Arutani
states	Brazil, Venezuela
region	Roraima (Brazil);
ethnicity	20 Auaké
speakers	5–6
date	2020
ref	e25
familycolor	American
fam1	Arutani–Sape ?
iso3	atx
glotto	arut1244
glottorefname	Arutani
map2	Lang Status 20-CR.svg
mapcaption2
notice	IPA
altname	Uruak, Awake
dia1	Awaké
dia2	Arutani
::

| name = Arutani | nativename = Arutani | states = Brazil, Venezuela | region = Roraima (Brazil); Karum River area, Bolivar State (Venezuela) | ethnicity = 20 Auaké | speakers = 5–6 | date = 2020 | ref = e25 | familycolor = American | fam1 = Arutani–Sape ? | iso3 = atx | glotto = arut1244 | glottorefname = Arutani | map2 = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption2 = | notice = IPA | altname = Uruak, Awake | dia1 = Awaké | dia2 = Arutani

Arutani (Orotani, Urutani, also known as Awake, Auake, Auaqué, Aoaqui, Oewaku, ethnonym Uruak) is a nearly extinct language spoken in Roraima, Brazil and in the Karum River area of Bolivar State, Venezuela. There are only around 6 speakers left.

Documentation

Arutani is one of the most poorly attested extant languages in South America, and may be a language isolate.{{Cite book | publisher = Cambridge University Press Cambridge | last = Dixon | first = R. M. W. |author2=A. Y. Aikhenvald | title = The Amazonian languages | series = Cambridge Language Surveys | date = 1999 | page = 343

Existing data is limited to a 1911 word list by Koch-Grünberg (1928: 308-313), a 1940 word list by Armellada & Matallana (1942: 101-110), and a 100-item Swadesh list by Migliazza (1978). There is also an unpublished Swadesh list by Fèlix Cardona i Puig from the 1930s-1940s, as well as an unpublished 200-item Swadesh list by Walter Coppens from 1970.

Sociolinguistic situation

Traditionally, Arutani was spoken along the Paragua River and Uraricaá River in southern Venezuela and the northern tip of Roraima, Brazil.

Ethnic Arutani also speak Ninam (Shirián), since they now mostly live in Ninam villages. The remaining speakers of Arutani are found in the following Ninam villages.

• Saúba (in Brazil): 1 speaker born in Venezuela who has family in Kavaimakén
• Kosoiba (in the Upper Paragua River valley of Venezuela): 3 speakers
• Kavaimakén (in the Upper Paragua River valley of Venezuela): 1 speaker
• Colibri (in the Upper Paragua River valley of Venezuela): 1 speaker reported

According to Loukotka (1968), it was once spoken on the southern banks of Maracá Island in the Rio Branco area.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Jukude, Sape, Warao, Tikuna-Yuri, and Tukano language families due to contact.

Lexical similarities with Tucanoan languages are mostly cultural loanwords. Arutani and Tucanoan languages also have completely different pronominal systems, and sound correspondences are irregular. Thus, similarities between them can be attributed to contact with Eastern Tucanoan.

Phonology

Consonants

::data[format=table] | Labial | Alveolar | Post-alv./ Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Nasal | Stop | Affricate | Fricative | Approximant | Tap | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | | | () | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ~ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

• may also be heard as a retroflex in free variation.
• is heard as an allophone of .

Vowels

::data[format=table]

Front	Central	Back	Close	Mid	Open
::

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Auaké.

:{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Auaké |- | one || kiuaná |- | two || kiuañéke |- | three || uatitimitilíake |- | head || ki-kakoáti |- | eye || ki-gakoá |- | tooth || ki-aké |- | man || madkié |- | water || okoá |- | fire || ané |- | sun || nizyí |- | manioc || mokiá |- | jaguar || kaiyá |- | house || iméd |}

References

References

1. "Arutani".
2. Hammarström, Harald. (2010). "The status of the least documented language families in the world". Language Documentation & Conservation.
3. Koch-Grünberg, Theodor. 1928. ''Vom Roroima Zum Orinoco, Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordbrasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911-1913''. Vol. 4. Stuttgart: Strecker und Schröder.
4. Armellada, Césareo de, and Baltazar de Matallana. 1942. Exploración Del Paragua. ''Boletín de La Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales'' 53, 61-110.
5. Migliazza, Ernest C. 1978. Maku, Sape and Uruak languages current status and basic lexicon. ''Anthropological Linguistics'' 20(3), 133-140.
6. Coppens, Walter. 2008. Los Uruak (Arutani). In W. Coppens, M. Á. Perera, R. Lizarralde & H. Seijas (eds.) ''Los aborígenes de Venezuela''. Volume 2, 747-770. Caracas: Fundación La Salle/Monte Avila Editores/Ediciones IVIC/Instituto Caribe de Antropología y Sociología.
7. Labrada, Jorge Emilio Rosés. (2020-07-31). "Arutani (Venezuela and Brazil) – Language Snapshot". Language Documentation and Description.
8. Loukotka, Čestmír. (1968). "Classification of South American Indian languages". UCLA Latin American Center.
9. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery. (2016). "Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas". University of Brasília.

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