Waurá language

Waurá
Native to	Brazil
Region	Xingu Indigenous Park, Mato Grosso
Ethnicity	Wauja
Native speakers	320 (2006)
Language family	Arawakan Southern ? Paresí–Xingu Waurá Waura–Mehináku Waurá
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wau
Linguist List	qdv Waura–Mehináku
Glottolog	waur1244
ELP	Waurá

Waurá (Wauja) is an Arawakan language spoken in the Xingu Indigenous Park of Brazil by the Waujá people. It is "partially intelligible" with Mehináku. The entire population speaks the language.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Stop	p	t			k	ɢ	(ʔ)
Affricate		ts		tʃ
Nasal	m	n
Fricative		s	ʐ				h
Tap		ɾ
Approximant	w	l		j

• A glottal stop [ʔ] occurs phonetically before vowels in word-initial position, or after vowels in word-final position.
• /p/ can be heard as aspirated [pʰ] or voiced [b] in free variation.
• Stop sounds /t, k/ can be heard as aspirated [tʰ, kʰ] in free variation.
• /w/ can also be heard as [β] in free variation, except when before /u/.
• /s/ can be heard as voiced [z] when between vowels, or after initial vowels.
• /ʐ/ can be heard as voiceless [ʂ] when between vowels, or after initial vowels.
• /j/ can be heard as a palatal nasal [ɲ] when occurring before nasal vowels /ã, ẽ, ũ/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː ĩ	ɨ ɨː ɨ̃	u uː ũ
Mid	e eː ẽ
Low		a aː ã

• Sounds /i, u, ɨ, a/ can also be heard in lax form as [ɪ, ʊ, ə, ɐ].
• Sounds /e, eː, ẽ/ can be heard as close-mid [e, eː, ẽ] or open-mid [ɛ, ɛː, ɛ̃] in free variation.