Aikanã (sometimes calledTubarão,^[2] Corumbiara/Kolumbiara, or Huari/Uari/Wari) is anendangeredlanguage isolate^[3] spoken by about 200Aikanã people inRondônia,^[1]Brazil. It ismorphologically complex and hasSOV word order.^[4] Aikanã uses theLatin script. The people live with speakers ofKoaia (Kwaza).

Aikanã is traditionally spoken in the Terra Indígena Tubarão-Latundê, where it is still the dominant language. It is also spoken in the Terra Indígena Kwazá do Rio São Pedro, where Kwazá is traditionally spoken. A few Aikanã families in also reside in the Terra Indígena Rio Guaporé, but they do not speak the language there. There are nearly 100 ethnic Aikanã (locally known asKassupá) people, in the Comunidade Indígena Cassupá e Salamãi, although the final Aikanã speaker there died in 2018.^[5]

Van der Voort (2005) observes similarities among Aikanã,Kanoê, andKwaza, and believes that it is strong enough to definitively link the three languages together as part of a single language family.^[6] An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)^[7] also found lexical similarities between Aikanã and Kwaza. However, since the analysis was automatically generated, the grouping could be either due to mutual lexical borrowing or genetic inheritance.

Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities withKanoe,Kwaza, andNambikwara due to contact.^[8]

Varieties listed by Loukotka (1968):^[9]

• Huari (Corumbiara) - spoken between theCorumbiara River and Guarajú River, Rondônia
• Masaca (Aicana) - spoken on the left bank of theCorumbiara River
• Aboba - extinct language once spoken on the Guarajú River
• Maba - extinct language once spoken on the Guajejú River (unattested)
• Puxacaze - once spoken on the Guajejú River, Brazil (unattested)
• Guajejú - once spoken at the sources of the Jamarí River and Candeia River (unattested)

• /y, ỹ/ can also be heard as close-mid [ø, ø̃].
• /a, ã/ are heard as [ɨ, ɨ̃] before /i, ĩ/.^[10]

• Within the position of nasal vowels, sounds /b, d, d͡ð/ become [m, n, ⁿ̪ð] and /w, ɾ, h/ become [w̃, ɾ̃, h̃].
• /t̪͡s, d͡ð/ are only heard as affricates [t̪͡s, d͡ð] in word-initial position. Elsewhere, they are heard as a fricatives [s] and [ð].
• /w/ can be heard as a fricative [β] when before /i/.
• /ɾ/ can also be heard as [l] between vowels.
• /d͡ʒ/ is heard as [d͡ʒ] before a front-vowel, [j] before a non-front vowel, and as [ɲ] or [j̃] before a nasal vowel.^[11]

In Aikanã, the verb phrase or predicate morphological template is:^[12]: 19

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Huari and Masaca, as well asCapixana.^[9]

gloss	Huari	Masaca	Capixana
one	amemeeː	amäme	pátairä
two	arukai	atuka	kãerá
three		ümaitü	piakaúkä
head	chimé	tinupá	i-kutá
ear	ka-niyú	ka-nĩgó	i-tẽyõ
tooth	múi	mõiː	i-pé
hand	iné	iné	i-so
woman	chikichíki	dätiá	míaʔä
water	hané	hánä	kuni
fire	íne	íné	iní
stone	huahuá	urorä	akí
maize	atití	ákí	atití
tapir	arimé	alümä	itsá

Aikanã plant and animal names from Silva (2012)^[13] are listed in the correspondingPortuguese article.

• Vasconcelos, I. P. (2004).Aspectos da fonologia e morfologia da língua Aikanã. Maceió: Universidade Federal de Alagoas. (Masters dissertation).

Wiktionary has a Swadesh list atAppendix:Aikanã Swadesh list

• Alain Fabre, 2005,Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: AIKANA[1]

• Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia
• Languages of Brazil
• Language isolates of South America
• Endangered language isolates
• Subject–object–verb languages
• Mamoré–Guaporé linguistic area

• Language articles citing Ethnologue 25
• CS1 Portuguese-language sources (pt)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing Aikanã-language text
• Articles containing Kanoé-language text