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.
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)
- Nambikwaran
- Sabane
- Nambikwara, Northern
- Nambikwara, Southern
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]
Proto-language
Proto-Nambiquara reconstructions by Price (1978):[9]
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 - ^ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
- ^ Nambiquaran languages. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
- ^ Kroeker, 2001 p. 1
- ^ Ethnologue. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
- ^ Price, David P. 1978. The Nambiquara linguistic family. Anthropological Linguistics 20 (1): 14–37.
- ^ a b Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Brasília.
- ^ a b Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
