Piaroa language

"Kuakua" redirects here. For the exoplanet named Kua'kua, see LHS 3844 b.

Piaroa
De'aruwa
Native to	Colombia and Venezuela
Ethnicity	Piaroa people
Native speakers	(13,000–14,000 cited 2001)
Language family	Piaroa–Saliban Piaroan Piaroa
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pid
Glottolog	piar1243
ELP
File:Piaroa.png

Piaroa (also called Guagua ~ Kuakua ~ Quaqua, Adole ~ Ature, Wo’tiheh) is an indigenous language of Colombia and Venezuela, native to the Huottüja people. Loukotka (1968) reports that it is spoken along the Sipapo River, Orinoco River, and Ventuari River.

A Wirö language (commonly called Maco) is closely related, the two forming the Piaroan branch of the family.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
						nor.	lab.	nor.	lab.
Stop	Plain	p	t			k	kʷ	ʔ
	Aspirated	pʰ~ɸ	tʰ			kʰ	kʰʷ
	Ejective	pʼ	tʼ			kʼ	kʷʼ
	Glottal	ˀb	ˀd
Affricate	Plain				t͡ʃ~t͡s
	Aspirated			t͡sʰ
	Ejective			t͡sʼ
Fricative				s				hˣ	hˣʷ
Nasal		m		n
Flap/Lateral				ɾ	ʎ
Approximant					j~dʲ		w

Palatalization of /k, kʰ, kʼ, hˣ/ may occur when before front vowels as [kʲ, kʲʰ, kʲʼ, hʲ].

/pʰ/ may also be heard as a fricative [ɸ] in free variation.

Sounds /j/ and /t͡ʃ/ may have allophones of [dʲ, t͡s].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u ɯ
Mid	e		ɤ~o
Open	æ		ɑ~ɒ

Vowels /ɤ, ɑ/ are rounded as [o, ɒ] when after labial sounds.