Warekena language


Guarequena is an Arawakan language of Brazil and of Maroa Municipality in Venezuela. It is one of several languages which goes by the generic name Baré and Baniwa/Baniva – in this case, Baniva de Maroa.
Kaufman classified it in a Warekena group of Western Nawiki Upper Amazonian, Aikhenvald in Eastern Nawiki.
Personal pronouns in Warekena are formed by adding an emphatic suffix -ya to the cross-referencing personal prefixes.

Grammar

Unmarked constituent order is AVO, VSo, SaV, or SioV.
AVO:
wa-hã waʃi yutʃia-hã ema
then-PAUS jaguar kill-PAUS tapir
"Then the jaguar killed the tapir"
VSo:
ʃupe-hẽ ʃiani-pe
many-PAUS child-PL
"Children are many"
SaV:
peya nu-yaɺitua wiyua
one 1sg-brother die
"One of my brothers dies"
SioV:
nu-yue mawali
1sg-for hungry
"I am hungry"
Indirect objects tend to be placed immediately after the predicate.