Akurio language

{{Short description|Cariban language of Suriname}} {{Expand language|topic=|langcode=ru|otherarticle=Акурио (язык)|date=March 2025}} {{use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox language | name = Akuriyó | nativename = | states = Suriname | region = Sipaliwini District | ethnicity = 40 Akurio people (2012)<ref name=e25>{{Ethnologue25|ako|Akurio}}</ref> | extinct = 2002 | speakers2 = 2 semi-speakers (2012) | ref = <ref>{{Cite book |title=The indigenous languages of South America: a comprehensive guide |date=2012 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-025513-3 |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Lyle |series=The world of linguistics |location=Berlin; Boston |editor-last2=Grondona |editor-first2=Verónica María}}</ref> | familycolor = cariban | fam1 = Cariban | fam2 = Guianan Carib | fam3 = Taranoan | fam4 = Tiriyo | iso3 = ako | glotto = akur1238 | glottorefname = Akurio | altname = Akurio | map2 = Lang Status 20-CR.svg | mapcaption2 = {{center|Akuriyo is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger''.}} | map = Akuriyo language map.svg }}

'''Akurio''', also known as '''Akuriyó''', is an extinct Cariban language. It was spoken by the Akurio people in Suriname until the late 20th century, after which they switched to the closely related Tiriyó language. Akurio has since undergone heavy influence from Tiriyó, and was replaced by it, with the last native speakers being reported to have died in 2002. Only three people could remember the language in 2012.

== Name == The name "Akurio" is derived from the word {{Lang|ako|akuri}} 'agouti' and the suffix {{Lang|ako|-jo}}, used to derive names of peoples; thus, the name "Akurio" presumably translates to 'agouti people'.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|pages=11-13}}

== Classification == Akurio is a Cariban language belonging to the Taranoan subgroup. Other Taranoan languages include Tiriyó, which is the closest language to Akurio, and Carijona, spoken in Colombia.<ref name=":0" />

== History == The Akurio people were first contacted by outsiders in 1937, during Conrad Carel Käyser's expedition to the Oelemari River. The next year, {{Interlanguage link|Willem Ahlbrinck|nl}}, a Catholic missionary, who called them ''Wama'', contacted the Akurio again. Claudius de Goeje published vocabularies of "Wama" recorded from these expeditions in his 1946 book ''Études linguistiques caraïbes''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goeje |first=C. H. de |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/101396058 |title=Études linguistiques caraïbes. |date=1909–46 |publisher=J. Müller |series=Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Nederlandsche Akademie van Wetenschappen, Afd. Letterkunde. Nieuwe reeks, deel 10, no.3; deel 49, no.2 |location=Amsterdam}}</ref> No further contact was made until 1968, when some Wayana people met a group of Akurio by chance,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Boer |first=M.W.H. de |date=1970-01-01 |title=Report of a contact with Stone-age Indians in Surinam |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/nwig/47/1/article-p249_14.xml |journal=New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=249–259 |doi=10.1163/22134360-90002237 |issn=1382-2373|doi-access=free }}</ref> prompting missionaries to immediately begin resettling them into sedentary settlements, particularly the Tiriyó villages of Kwamalasamutu and Tepoe. This led to the rapid adoption of the Tiriyó language. Uncontacted groups of Akurio are thought to still live along the upper Oelemari and in the Oranje Mountains, and may still speak Akurio without influence from Tiriyó.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|pages=11-13}}

The last native speakers of Akurio died in 2002. During this period, only ten people were estimated to have Akuriyó as a second language.<ref name="e25" /> By 2012, only three semi-speakers remained.<ref>{{Citation |last=Crevels |first=Mily |title=Language endangerment in South America: The clock is ticking |date=2012-01-13 |work=The Indigenous Languages of South America |pages=167–234 |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Lyle |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110258035.167/html |access-date=2026-05-01 |publisher=DE GRUYTER |doi=10.1515/9783110258035.167 |isbn=978-3-11-025513-3 |editor2-last=Grondona |editor2-first=Verónica|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Sepi Akuriyó, one of the last surviving speakers of Akuriyó, went missing 2 December 2018, when a small plane carrying eight people disappeared during a flight over the Amazon rainforest. The search and rescue operation was called off after two weeks.<ref>{{cite news|title=A scandal in the Amazon - where pilots are forced to lie|date=18 March 2019|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47585703|publisher=BBC News|accessdate=18 March 2019}}</ref>

== Phonology == The following phonology is preliminary and derived from fieldwork with non-native speakers over a short period of time. The phonological system of Akurio is similar to those of other Taranoan languages.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=16}}

=== Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+Akurio consonants<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis |last=Meira |first=Sérgio |title=A Reconstruction of Proto-Taranoan: Phonology and Morphology |date=1998 |degree=masters |publisher=Rice University |url=https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese%3Ameira-1998/meira_1998_proto-taranoan.PDF}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=16}} |- ! !Bilabial !Alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Glottal |- !Plosive |p |t | |k |(ʔ) |- !Affricate | |tʃ | | | |- !Nasal |m |n | | | |- !Tap/Flap | |ɽ{{Efn|The flap is slightly retroflex with some lateral release.}} | | | |- !Approximant |w | |j | | |}

=== Vowels === Akurio, like the other Taranoan languages, has seven vowels. Vowel length is apparently phonemic, or contrastive.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=16}} {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+Akurio vowels<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|page=16}} ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2" |Front ! colspan="2" |Central ! colspan="2" |Back |- !short !long !short !long !short !long |- !Close |i |iː |ɨ |ɨː |u |uː |- !Mid |e |eː |ə |əː |o |oː |- !Open | | |a |aː | | |}

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akurio Language}} Category:Languages of Suriname Category:Cariban languages Category:Endangered Indigenous languages of the Americas Category:Critically endangered languages Category:Endangered languages of South America

Akurio language

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