Language: Aikana is a language of South America, spoken by 100 people in Brazil.
Some linguists believe it may be related to the Arawakan
language family. Aikana is a morphologically complex tone language with many suffixes and primarily SOV word order.
Names: The name the people use to refer to themselves and their language is Aikanã, but several
other names have been recorded over the years, including Masaca, Tubarão, Huarí, Kasupá, Mundé, and Corumbiara. Most of these probably
either referred to particular Aikana bands, or were names for the Aikanas in neighboring tribes. ("Mundé" is a
given name in the Aikana language, and may have referred to a particular Aikana leader.) Today these alternate names are sometimes
still used as synonyms of "Aikana." Other common spellings include Aicana, Aikaná, Masaká, Masaka, Massaca, Massaká, Tubarao, Warí,
Huari, Wari, Uari, Cassupá, Kasupa, Mondé, Korumbiara, Kolumbiara, and Columbiara.
Aikana Vocabulary:
Our list of vocabulary words in the Aikana language, with comparison to words in other Arawakan languages.
Aikana Pronunciation Guide:
How to pronounce Aikana words.
Aikana Animal Words:
Illustrated glossary of animal words in the Aikana/Tubarao language.
Aikana Body Parts:
Online and printable worksheets showing parts of the body in the Aikana/Tubarao language.
Aikana Language Resources
Aikaná:
Aikana language information including a map of Brazil. Page in Spanish.
House of Languages: Aikaná
Information about Aikaná language usage.
Tubarão Language:
Demographic information on Aikana from the Ethnologue of Languages.
Aikana Language Tree:
Theories about Aikana's language relationships compiled by Linguist List.
Aikaná Language Structures:
Aikana linguistic profile and academic bibliography.