Arawak Languages

Abstract

The Arawak family is the largest in South America, with about forty extant languages. Arawak languages are spoken in lowland Amazonia and beyond, covering French Guiana, Suriname, Guiana, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia, and formerly in Paraguay and Argentina. Wayuunaiki (or Guajiro), spoken in the region of the Guajiro peninsula in Venezuela and Colombia, is the largest language of the family. Garifuna is the only Arawak language spoken in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Guatemala in Central America. Groups of Arawak speakers must have migrated from the Caribbean coast to the Antilles a few hundred years before the European conquest. At least several dozen Arawak languages have become extinct since the European conquest. The highest number of recorded Arawak languages is centered in the region between the Rio Negro and the Orinoco. This is potentially a strong linguistic argument in favor of the Arawak protohome having been located there. The diversity of Arawak languages south of the Amazon in central Peru around the Rivers Purús and Madeira must have been greater in the past than it is now. The settlements of Arawak-speaking peoples south of the Amazon are believed to be of considerable antiquity. The Arawak family is also known as Maipure or Maipuran (based on Maipure, formerly spoken in Venezuela). The family got its name “Arawak” from the language known as Lokono Arawak, Arawak, or Lokono Dian (spoken in French Guiana, Guiana, Suriname, and Venezuela by about 2,500 people). The genetic unity of Arawak languages was first recognized by Father Gilij as early as 1783. The recognition of the family was based on a comparison of pronominal cross-referencing prefixes in Maipure, a now-extinct language from the Orinoco Valley, and in Mojo (or Ignaciano) from Bolivia. Problems still exist concerning internal genetic relationships within the family and possible genetic relationships with other groups. North Arawak languages appear to constitute a separate subgroup; so do Campa languages and Arawak languages of the Xingu region. The legacy of Arawak languages survives in many common English words, including hammock, hurricane, barbecue, iguana, maize, papaya, savanna, guava, and possibly tobacco. This article focuses only on the major and most significant works. There are at least an equal number of more minor studies on the languages of the Arawak family.