Arutani, also called Orotani, Urutani, Auake or Uruak, is a nearly extinct language spoken in Roraima, Brazil, and in the Karum River area of Bolivar State, Venezuela, across four Ninam villages in the upper Paragua River valley. As of 2020 only five or six speakers remained among an ethnic Auake population of about 20 people, and UNESCO classifies the language as critically endangered. Most linguists treat Arutani as a language isolate, though Morris Swadesh and Joseph Greenberg proposed grouping it with the neighboring Sape language in a hypothetical Arutani-Sape family, a connection that remains unconfirmed.
Facts
Disputed
Proto-Language StatusNo proto-language; classified as an isolate by most linguists, though grouped with Sape, and later Maku, in a proposed Arutani-Sape family 1 Swadesh and Greenberg proposed an Arutani-Sape family, later expanded by Kaufman to include Maku; not confirmed. Regionsouthern Venezuela and the northern tip of Roraima, Brazil 1 Speaker Count In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Arutani language, Wikipedia
Geographic distribution section
Traditionally, Arutani was spoken along the Paragua River and Uraricaa River in southern Venezuela and the northern tip of Roraima, Brazil.
Infobox, Native speakers field
Native speakers: 5-6 (2020)
Classification section, first paragraph
The language has been classified as a language isolate by most linguists.
View the SourceReader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.