Arutani (Venezuela and Brazil) – Language Snapshot
- Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada
- Thiago Chacon
- Francia Medina
Abstract
Arutani is a language isolate traditionally spoken along the Paragua and Uraricáa rivers and their tributaries on the Venezuelan-Brazilian border. While the Arutani have been a small group since their first mention in the historical record, the population has dwindled significantly in the last few decades, and the number of speakers is now down to five (possibly six) individuals with varying degrees of fluency. Population and speaker number decreases are tied to introduced diseases and, possibly, prior interethnic conflicts as well as intermarriage with larger groups. Documentation and description of the language are scant, but current research has yielded a small corpus of audiovisual materials; of particular importance is connected speech recordings as prior materials consist only of isolated words and sentences.
Keywords: Arutani, Venezuela, Brazil, Paragua River, Uraricáa River
How to Cite:
Labrada, J., Chacon, T. & Medina, F., (2020) “Arutani (Venezuela and Brazil) – Language Snapshot”, Language Documentation and Description 17, 170-177. doi: https://doi.org/10.25894/ldd108
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