Wayana (also referred to as Ojana, Ajana, Aiana, Ouyana, Uajana, Upurui, Oepoeroei, Roucouyen, Oreocoyana, Orkokoyana, Urucuiana, Urukuyana, and Alucuyana in the literature) is a language of the Cariban family, spoken by the Wayana people, who live mostly in the borderlands of French Guiana, Brazil, and Suriname.
[3] The Wayana are considered to be an amalgamation of several smaller ethnic groups, having subsumed the Upurui, Kukuyana, Opagwana, and Kumarawana, among others.
Disease forced dwindling populations of smaller ethnic groups to amalgamate with the Wayana in the 18th century for increased survival.
[4] Also in the 18th century, around the time of European arrival in the Brazilian interior, the Wayana, whose original territory is considered to be Northern Brazil, started to migrate to Suriname and French Guiana due to conflicts resulting indirectly from colonization.
[5] The Wayana (and Aparai) were involved heavily with trade, especially with the meikolo (Black Maroons), as well as Brazilian and Surinamese traders until the end of the 19th century.
[8] Documentation of both the extinct and remaining languages is scant in many cases, consisting of wordlists with flawed phonetic transcription and little grammatical description.
[6] De Goeje also published an incomplete grammar detailing some morphological aspects of Wayana in 1946 (as cited by Tavares, 2005).
[11] Kenneth Howell's 1982 MA thesis describes a specific aspect of Wayana syntax – constituent order.
The grammar provides little theoretical elaboration, "hop[ing] that future researchers will fill this gap" (Tavares, 2005, pp. 6).
The Wayana's relationship with the Aparai has also elicited many ethnographic studies on subjects such as their bilingualism (Camargo 1997),[6] their kinship (Koehn 1975)[10] and their exchange patterns (Barbosa 2007).
[14] The Wayana-Aparai project focused on food systems and traditional knowledge of flora and fauna.
[8] There are five major speech classes in Wayana: nouns, verbs, postpositions, adverbs, and particles.
[18] Barring particles, all members of each speech class are clearly recognizable by the affixes that they can take.
In her "Grammar of Wayana", Tavares addresses the major aspects of each speech class in-depth.
In regards to nouns, she discusses possessive, personal, and number affixes, Wayana pronouns, and special cases such as sound symbolic words.
[6] The detransitivizing prefix is realized as e-, ëh-, ët-, depending on the succeeding phonological environment.
and b., a verb stem that usually requires another participant, can be satisfied by just one acting as an agent, in the presence of the detransitivizing prefix.
These suffixes only "occur on SO intransitive stems", "adding a new nuclear participant to the event described by the verb" (Tavares 2005, pp. 254).
[6] Wayana's case system presents "an … unprecedented type of split ergativ[ity]" (Tavares, 2005, pp.
Both systems can "occur independent of tense, with all persons … in main clauses, and with all verb stems" (Tavares, 2005, pp.
[6] To illustrate, below are two example of sentences using Set I transitive (8) and intransitive verbs, with SA (9a) and SO arguments (9b) : w-ipanakma-ø1A.3O-hear.O-RECw-ipanakma-ø1A.3O-hear.O-REC"I heard it"kolanecklaceekalë-øgive-RECøepe-ø3-friend-POSSjaDATkola ekalë-ø øepe-ø janecklace give-REC 3-friend-POSS DAT"(She) gave necklace to her friend"w-ëtulu-ø1S.A-eat-RECw-ëtulu-ø1S.A-eat-REC"I ate"1+2SO-sing-REC1+2SO-sing-REC"Me and you sang"Data from Tavares (2005), pp.
Instead, it is likely that the set I verbs in Wayana are of a mixed system that is not fully encompassed by one single analysis.
They are not inflected for person, tense, evidentiality, or number, and, as mentioned, present ergative case marking.
Two examples follow: malonmethenï-woka-nu1-fishhook-POSSepulu-øpole-POSSte-pïkëlë-heT-Break.O-Hepahinafish.spjaERGmalonme ï-woka-nu epulu-ø te-pïkëlë-he pahina jathen 1-fishhook-POSS pole-POSS T-Break.O-He fish.sp ERG"Then, a pasina (fish) broke the pole of my fishhook" Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);tï-ka-heT-say-Heïwu1.PROtï-ka-he ïwuT-say-He 1.PRO"I said" Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);kopëraintelenuhuget-umëkï-heT-come-Hekopë telenu t-umëkï-herain huge T-come-He"A huge rain came" Unknown glossing abbreviation(s) (help);Data from Tavares (2005), pp.
Wayana is a special case in split ergativity, since it seems that the two sets are not grammatically or semantically triggered, and occur freely in discourse.
201, 202 Even another Cariban language, Tiriyó, with split ergativity (and similar person-marking), "restrict[s]" t-V-(h)e verbs (the Tiriyo cognate) to the remote past" (Tavares, 2005, pp.
Aspect is not marked on Wayana verbs, but is "impl[ied] to different degrees" (Tavares, 2005, pp.
ituwakïIndianpakolo-nuhouse-POSSta-këin.permanent.LOC-intohepïHABw-ïtë-ja-he1S.A-go-NPST-SapAffituwakï pakolo-nu ta-kë hepï w-ïtë-ja-heIndian house-POSS in.permanent.LOC-into HAB 1S.A-go-NPST-SapAff"I always go to the House of the Indians"ï-wenata-ja-he1S.O-vomit-NPST-SapAffpitëin.a.minuteï-wenata-ja-he pitë1S.O-vomit-NPST-SapAff in.a.minute"I am about to vomit"akonoanotherwejiyearpo-øon.supported-onw-ëh-epa-ja-he1S.A-DET-teach.O-NPST-SapAffestados unidosUnited Statespo-øon.supported-onakono weji po-ø w-ëh-epa-ja-he {estados unidos} po-øanother year on.supported-on 1S.A-DET-teach.O-NPST-SapAff {United States} on.supported-on"Next year, I will study in the United States"ulubreadw-ekeju-ja-he1A.3O-make.bread.NPST-SapAffulu w-ekeju-ja-hebread 1A.3O-make.bread.NPST-SapAff"I am making bread" or "I will make bread"Data from Tavares (2005), pp.
215 The distant past (referring to an event that occurred more than 24 hours before speech) is marked by two different affixes, -ne and kun-.
akuliagoutije-øtooth-POSSïlï-ëmëtnejamake.O-HABPSTmalija-meknife-Attrbakuli je-ø ïlï-ëmëtneja malija-meagouti tooth-POSS make.O-HABPST knife-Attrb"They used to make agouti's teeth into knives"ka-hesay-HABPSTkunigrandmotherka-he kunisay-HABPST grandmother"Grandma used to say.