Warázu language

Warázu
Pauserna
Guarasuñée
Native to	Bolivia
Region	Rondônia, Brazil and Beni Department, Bolivia
Ethnicity	149 Guarasu’we in Bolivia (2024); 101 Guarasugwe in Brazil (2022)
Native speakers	4–5 (2017)
Language family	Tupian Tupi–Guarani Guarayu Warázu
Official status
Official language in	Bolivia
Language codes
ISO 639-3	psm
Glottolog	paus1244
ELP	Pauserna

Warázu, also known as Pauserna, Guarasú'we (in Bolivia), or Guarasugwé (in Brazil), is an endangered Tupi–Guaraní language of Brazil and Bolivia.

It is spoken by the Guarasugwé people, who were estimated to number 149 in Bolivia and 101 in Brazil according to recent census results. A 2017 lingustic investigation reported that the language had 4 or 5 active or passive speakers. There were 2 speakers in Pimenteiras do Oeste, in the Brazilian state of Rondônia, Brasil. There were also 2 or 3 speakers in Bella Vista, a town in Magdalena municipality, Beni, on the banks of the Iténez River. Community leaders are involved in language revitalization efforts in both Bolivia and Brazil.

Classification

Warázu is most closely related to Sirionó and Yuki (Yuqui). Ramirez (2017) places the classification of Warázu in the Guaraní subgroup of the Tupi-Guarani languages as follows:

• Guaraní subgroup
  • Guaraní
  • Tupinambá
  • Guarayu
  • Warázu-Sirionoid
    • Sirionoid (Sirionó, Yuqui, etc.)
    • Warázu

Names

Speakers are also known as Guaraiutá, Guaraju, Pauserna, Guarasugwe, or Warazúkwe [waɾaðúkwe].

Demographics

The language has been described as at high risk of extinction by anthropologists Erland Nordenskiöld in the early 20th century and by Jürgen Riester in 1974. Its extinction was even reported in 2004.

Ramirez and colleagues (2017) found only 2 remaining active speakers of Warázu, an elderly couple consisting of Känä́tsɨ [kənə́tsɨ] (José Frei Leite) and Híwa (Ernestina Moreno). They were born in Riozinho (Urukuríti) in Rondônia, Brazil, and moved back and forth between Brazil and Bolivia until finally settling in Pimenteiras do Oeste, Rondônia. They also documented two or three passive speakers in Bella Vista, Bolivia, including Mercedes and Carmelo and the older brother of Känä́tsɨ, "tio Juan."

Traditionally, the Warázu people had lived in the following 7 villages along the banks of the Guaporé River. However, the Warázu language is no longer spoken in these localities.

• Riozinho (Urukurɨ́ti) (on the banks of the Riozinho River, a tributary of the Guaporé River), Brazil
• Acurizal, Brazil
• Campo Grande (on the banks of the Paragúa River, a tributary of the Guaporé River), Bolivia
• Bella Vista, Bolivia
• Jangada, Bolivia
• Barranco Vermelho, Bolivia
• Flechas, Bolivia

A new community of around 15 Guarasú'we families was established in Picaflor, Santa Cruz department, in 2016, when they arrived from Porvenir. A language revitalization effort is active there, led by Amalia Pereira and her sister Carmen Frey (Takva’sim), both granddaughters of community leader Miguel Frey. Pereira's language reconstruction effort draws on the knowledge of several elder relatives and resulted in the publication of an official alphabet in 2023. In Picaflor, the language is taught in a community school sponsored by the Bolivian government.

Phonology

Phonological inventory of Warázu:

Consonants

Warázu only has 11 consonants.

	Labial	Alveolar		Velar	Glottal
		plain	sibilant
Nasal	m	n
Plosive	p	t	t͡s	k	ʔ
Continuant		ð		w/kʷ	h
Trill		r

Allophones:

• [ɲ], allophone of /n/
• [ɾʲ], allophone of /ɾ/
• [tʲ], allophone of /t/
• [ʝ], allophone of /ð/

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

Syllabic structure is (C)V or (C)VV.

Pronouns

Warázu pronouns:

pronoun	Warázu
I	tsé
you (sg.)	né [á-pe]
we (excl.)	óre
we (incl.)	ðáne
you (pl.)	pé [peðó-pe]
he, she	áʔe

Vocabulary

For a list of Warázu plant and animal names from Ramirez (2017), see the corresponding Portuguese article.

Further reading

• Anonymous (2015). Diccionario flora y fauna gwarasu. Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Talleres Gráficos Kipus.
• Apoyo Para el Campesino – indígena del Oriente Boliviano (2022), Exposición Los Guarasú'we: Crónica de sus últimos días (PDF), APCOB
• Riester, Jürgen (1972). Die Pauserna-Guarasug’wä. Monographie eines Tupi-Guaraní-Volkes in Ostbolivien. St. Augustin bein Bonn: Verlag des Anthropos-Instituts.
• Riester, Jürgen (1976). En busca de la Loma Santa. Indígenas en el Oriente Boliviano. Análisis de su situación actual. La Paz: Editorial Los Amigos del Libro.
• Riester, Jürgen (1977). Los Guarasug’wé: Crónica de sus últimos días. La Paz: Editorial Los Amigos del Libro.