The Warao, an indigenous people, number roughly 27,000. In, Venezuela there are about 18,000 Warao, making them the second largest indigenous population in Venezuela. Around 5,000 Warao also live in Guyana and the rest live in Suriname. In Guyana and Suriname there are few speakers of Warao but in Venezuela there are 10,000 monolinguals. Hopefully there are children among those monolingual speakers. That would give the language a good chance of continuing to live.
Because linguists cannot classify Warao, it is considered to be a language isolate. This means that it is unrelated to any other language in South America and the world! Some linguists have made claims that Warao might be related to Chibchan languages, but that has been disputed. So for now, Warao has only one member in its language family -- itself.
I have included Warao on this website because a Warao people, known as the Ciboney also occupied the Caribbean.
WARAO WORDLIST
Notes:
- Stress in Warao is almost always on the penultimate (second to last) syllable.
- The letters are pronounced as in Spanish, for example letter "j" is pronounced like the "h" in "hat" not like the "j" in "jump".
v.= verb (words translated from a Spanish Wikipedia article on Warao)
| I |
ine |
dive (v.) |
kobo |
| you |
iji |
eat (v.) |
najoro |
| he |
tai |
fish |
jomakaba |
| you (plural) |
yatu |
freedom |
koyabo |
| we |
oko |
heat |
iji |
| woman |
tida |
help (v.) |
saneta |
| man |
nibo |
hill |
jota |
| mother |
dani |
hole |
koho |
| father |
dima |
look for |
najobu |
| head |
kua |
listen |
noko |
| elbow |
obaka |
laughter |
eno, mare |
| heart |
kobe |
learn |
namina |
| finger |
mohe |
now, today |
ama |
| mouth |
doko |
quantity |
nowara |
| left handed |
mojokabaya |
old |
nobo |
| yellow |
simosimo |
read (v.) |
teribu |
| white |
joko |
shoes |
omunamu |
| red |
simo |
sky |
najamutu |
| animal |
domu |
talk (v.) |
wara |
| bed |
yajinoko |
tired |
basa |
| big |
ida |
unite |
maja |
| blanket |
simara |
war |
dariha |
| city |
janokosebeida |
year |
joida |
| close (v.) |
itaro |
|
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NUMBERS
| 1 |
isaka |
| 2 |
manamo |
| 3 |
dijanamo |
| 4 |
orabakaya |
| 5 |
mojabasi |
| 6 |
mojomatana isaka |
| 7 |
mojomatana manamo |
| 8 |
mojomatana dijamo |
| 9 |
mojomatana orabakaya |
| 10 |
mojoreko |
| 20 |
warao isaka |
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LINKS
- A Warao Indian in a canoe, Photographic Print by Ed George, 24x32
 : A photo of, well, a Warao Indian in a canoe.
- Materials regarding the Warao : A great website with a list of books about the Warao people, wordlists, pictures and also audio of spoken Warao
- Wikipedia article on the Warao (in English)
- A collection of broadcasts in Warao : the ones labeled Waraotuma isia, Warao a ribu isia, Anana isia, Wirinoko isia, and Waraotuma a rejawara isia are the ones that are in Warao (with a few words of Spanish spoken at the beginning).
- A video of the Venezuelan national anthem sung in Warao: to view the video, right click the link and choose "Save target as"or ("Save link as" for Firefox users), this helps to save their website bandwith.
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