Akawaio

Akawaio (also called Kapon or Kapóng) is a Cariban language spoken mainly in Guyana's Upper Mazaruni region, with related communities in Venezuela and Brazil. Glottolog groups it with Ingarikó under Akawaio–Ingarikó, while other classifications use Kapóng for a broader grouping that may also involve Patamona, so names and boundaries vary. It is morphologically complex and largely suffixing: verbs may carry several markers for participants, tense, aspect, direction, and other meanings, and basic constituent order is commonly described as subject–object–verb. Akawaio is written in Latin-based practical orthographies; community work has produced primers, translated materials, and an Akawaio–English dictionary published in 2014. The language remains in use in Upper Mazaruni communities and in cultural and religious life, but Glottolog classifies it as threatened as English, Portuguese, and Spanish increasingly dominate schooling and wider communication.