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357 LANGUAGE FILE
Language name Warekena w�lei�kenə
Language name Wai Wai �waiwai
Autonym (if known and different)
Autonym (if known and different)
Language family Arawakan North Maipuran
Language family Cariban
Spoken in Brazil, Venezuela
Spoken in Guyana, Brazil, Surinam
Approximate number of speakers 300
Approximate number of speakers 2k
Writing system Roman
Writing system Roman
Phonetics/phonology
Phonetics/phonology
Stress variable
Stress word-final
Contains following rare
consonant (types)
Contains following rare
consonant (types)
Said to have how many vowels? 4 + length + nasalisation
Said to have how many vowels? 6 + length
Marked vowel types
Marked vowel types
Tone none
Tone none
Rhythm no information
Rhythm no information
Vowel harmony none
Vowel harmony none
Morphology agglutinative word-based
Particular formation types prefix; partial suffixed and full reduplication; suffix
Morphology agglutinative stem-based for
verbs; wordbased
for nouns
Syntax
Word order SVO NA prepositions and
(PossN) NPoss postpositions
Particular formation types prefix; suffix; synaffix
Particular syntactic phenomena classifiers; gender; morphological aspect
Syntax
Word order OV NModifier postpositions
PossN
Points of interest no coordinating conjunctions; no underived adjectives
Particular syntactic phenomena absolutive / ergative marking; inclusive / exclusive
1st plural; collectives rather than plurals
Sources Aikhenvald (1998), Asher (1994)
Points of interest
Sources Hawkins (1998)