Nambikwara_languages

Nambikwaran languages

Nambikwaran languages

Language family of Brazil

The Nambikwaran languages are a language family of half a dozen languages, all spoken in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. They have traditionally been considered dialects of a single language, but at least three of them are mutually unintelligible.

Quick Facts Geographic distribution, Linguistic classification ...

The varieties of Mamaindê are often seen as dialects of a single language but are treated as separate Northern Nambikwaran languages by Ethnologue. Sabanê is a single speech community and thus has no dialects, while the Nambikwara language has been described as having eleven.[1]

The total number of speakers is estimated to be about 1,000, with Nambikwara proper being 80% of that number.[2] Most Nambikwara are monolingual but some young men speak Portuguese.[3] Especially the men of the Sabanê group are trilingual, speaking both Portuguese and Mamainde.[4]

Genetic relations

Price (1978) proposes a relationship with Kanoê (Kapixaná), but this connection is not widely accepted.[5]

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Aikanã, Irantxe, Itonama, Kanoe, Kwaza, Peba-Yagua, Arawak, Bororo, and Karib language families due to contact.[6]

Varieties

Jolkesky (2016)

Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):[6]

(† = extinct)

Loukotka (1968)

Below is a full list of Nambikwaran language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.[7]

  • Nambikwaran
    • Eastern dialects
      • Tagnaní - spoken on the Castanho River (Roosevelt River), Mato Grosso.
      • Tamaindé - spoken on the Papagaio River and Marquez de Sousa River, state of Mato Grosso.
      • Neneː - spoken at the confluence of the Juína River and Juruena River, Mato Grosso.
      • Tarunde - spoken in the same region on the 12 de Outubro River [sv].
    • Central dialects
      • Kokozú / Uaindze / Ualíxere - spoken on the left bank of the 12 de Outubro River [sv].
      • Anunze / Soálesu - spoken between the Papagaio River and Camararé River, Mato Grosso.
      • Kongoreː - spoken on the Buriti River, Mato Grosso.
      • Navaite - spoken on the Dúvida River, Mato Grosso. (Unattested)
      • Taduté - spoken by the neighbors of the Navaite tribe on the Dúvida River.
    • Western dialects
      • Tauité / Tawite - spoken on the Camararé River, state of Mato Grosso.
      • Uaintasú / Waintazú - spoken in Mato Grosso on the right bank of the Pimenta Bueno River. (Unattested)
      • Mamaindé - spoken on the Cabixi River, state of Mato Grosso. (Unattested)
      • Uamandiri - spoken between the Cabixi River and Corumbiara River. (Unattested)
      • Tauandé - spoken on the São Francisco Bueno River, Mato Grosso. (Unattested)
      • Malondeː - spoken in the same region but exact location unknown. (Unattested)
      • Unetundeː - spoken on the upper course of the Dúvida River. (Unattested)
      • Tapóya - language of the same region, exact location unknown. (Unattested)
    • Northern dialects

Mason (1950) lists the following varieties under "Nambicuara proper":[8]

Mason (1950)

  • Nambikwaran
    • Northeastern
      • Eastern: Cocozu
      • Northeastern: Anunzé
    • Southwestern
      • Western: Tamaindé
      • Central and Southern
        • Uaintazu
        • Kabishi
        • Tagnani
        • Tauité
        • Taruté
        • Tashuité

Sabane is listed by Mason (1950) as "Pseudo-Nambicuara" (Northern).

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for various Nambikwaran languages.[7]

More information gloss, Tauité ...

Proto-language

Quick Facts Proto-Nambikwaran, Reconstruction of ...

Proto-Nambiquara reconstructions by Price (1978):[9]

More information Proto-Nambiquara reconstructions by Price (1978), gloss ...

Bibliography

  • Costa, Januacele Francisca da; W. Leo M. Wetzels. 2008. Proto-Nambikwara Sound Structure. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
  • Araujo, G. A. (2004). A Grammar of Sabanê: A Nambikwaran Language. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 94. Utrecht: LOT.
  • Gomes, M. A. C. F. (1991). Dicionário Mamaindé-Português/Português-Mamaindé. Cuiabá: SIL.
  • Kroeker, M. H. (1996). Dicionário escolar bilingüe Nambikuara-Português, Português-Nambikuara. Porto Velho: SIL.
  • Price, D. P. (1978). The Nambiquara Linguistic Family. Anthropological Linguistics 20:14-37.

References

Wiktionary has a list of reconstructed forms at Appendix:Proto-Nambikwaran reconstructions
  1. [1]
    Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
  2. [2]
    Nambiquaran languages. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
  3. [3]
    Kroeker, 2001 p. 1
  4. [4]
    Ethnologue. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
  5. [5]
    Price, David P. 1978. The Nambiquara linguistic family. Anthropological Linguistics 20 (1): 14–37.
  6. [6]
    Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Brasília.
  7. [7]
    Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  8. [8]
    Mason, John Alden (1950). "The languages of South America". In Steward, Julian (ed.). Handbook of South American Indians. Vol. 6. Washington, D.C., Government Printing Office: Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. pp. 157–317.
  9. [9]
    Price, D. (1978). The Nambiquara Linguistic Family. In Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 14-37. Published by: Trustees of Indiana University. Accessed from DiACL, 9 February 2020.
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