Purian languages

Purian languages are a pair of extinct languages of eastern Brazil:

• Puri
• Coroado Puri (also known as Colorado)

Coropó (Koropó), once spoken in Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, was added by Campbell (1997), but removed again by Ramirez et al. (2015).^[1]

Purian is part of the Macro-Jê proposal. However, when Coropó is removed, there are not sufficient lexical connections to maintain this classification.^[2]

Attestation

The Purian languages are only attested by a few word lists from the 19th century. The lists are:^[1]

Puri:

• Martius (1863: 194–195), collected in 1818 at São João do Presídio (now Visconde do Rio Branco, Minas Gerais).^[3]
• Eschwege (2002: 122–127), collected in 1815 near São João do Presídio^[4]
• Torrezão (1889: 511–513), collected in 1885 at Abre Campo (near Manhuaçu, Minas Gerais)^[5]

Coroado:

• Martius (1863: 195–198), collected in 1818 near São João do Presídio
• Eschwege (2002: 122–127), collected in 1815 near São João do Presídio
• Marlière (Martius, 1889: 198–207), collected between 1817 and 1819 at missions along the lower Paraíba do Sul River^[6]
• Saint-Hilaire (2000: 33), collected in 1816 near Valença, Rio de Janeiro^[7]

Koropó is attested by two word lists:

• Eschwege (2002: 122–127), 127 words collected in 1815
• Schott (1822, pp. 48–51), 55 words collected in 1818^[8]

Distribution

The Purian languages were spoken in a continuous region stretching from the Preto River to the Paraíba River (from Queluz, São Paulo to Paraibuna, São Paulo). The Puri occupied the Upper Paraíba do Sul River up to Queluz, São Paulo, and the Coroado from the Pomba River to the Doce River in Minas Gerais.^[1]

Dialects

Mason (1950) lists the following dialects of Coroado and Puri:^[9]

• Coroado
  • Maritong
  • Cobanipake
  • Tamprun
  • Sasaricon
• Puri
  • Sabonan
  • Wambori
  • Shaynishuna

Other languages

Extinct and unknown languages that may have been Purian languages:^[10]

• Caracatan - once spoken on the Caratinga River and Manhuaçu River, Minas Gerais.
• Bucan - found between Funil and Itacolumi near Mariana, Minas Gerais.
• Arasi - in Minas Gerais, Serra Ibitipoca and near Barbacena.
• Bacunin - near the city of Valença and on the Preto River.
• Airuan - Minas Gerais, between the Piranga River and Branco River.
• Bocayú - on the Pomba River.
• Aripiado - in the Serra da Araponga, Minas Gerais.
• Aredé - between Itabirito and Espinhaço.
• Guaraxué - between Ouro Preto, Mariana and Piranga.
• Sacarú - state of Rio de Janeiro on the Paraíba River.
• Paraíba - state of Rio de Janeiro on the Paraíba River.
• Pitá - state of Rio de Janeiro, on the Bonito River.
• Xumeto - in the Serra da Mantiqueira, state of Rio de Janeiro.
• Guarú - south of the Pitá tribe, state of Rio de Janeiro.
• Lôpo or Rôpo - in the Serra de Abre Campo, state of Minas Gerais.
• Abatipó - once spoken on the Matipó River, Minas Gerais.
• Caxine - in the state of Minas Gerais between the Preto River and Paraíba River, and near Valença, Rio de Janeiro.
• Caramonan - state of Minas Gerais, between the Pomba River and Doce River.
• Waitaka or Goytacaz - formerly spoken on the São Mateus River and in the vicinity of Cabo de São Tomé, state of Rio de Janeiro.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.^[10]

Proto-language

Silva Neto (2007) reconstructs 47 Proto-Purian forms.^{[11]: 39–41} Reconstituted forms by Silva Neto (2007) for Puri, Coroado, and Koropó synthesized from historical sources are also provided.

However, similarities in Koropó were later found to be loanwords by Ramirez et al. (2015), who classifies Koropó as Maxakalían.^[1] Nikulin (2020) also classifies Koropó as Macro-Jê (Maxakalían branch).^[12]

References

1. Ramirez, H., Vegini, V., & França, M. C. V. de. (2015). Koropó, puri, kamakã e outras línguas do Leste Brasileiro. LIAMES: Línguas Indígenas Americanas, 15(2), 223 - 277. doi:10.20396/liames.v15i2.8642302
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020). "Puri-Coroado". Glottolog 4.3.
3. Martius, Karl Friedrich Philip von. 1863. Glossaria linguarum Brasiliensium: glossarios de diversas lingoas e dialectos, que fallao os Indios no imperio do Brazil. Erlangen: Druck von Jange.
4. Eschwege, Wilhelm Ludwig von. 2002. Journal do Brasil 1811-1817. Belo Horizonte: Fundação João Pinheiro.
5. Torrezão, Alberto Noronha. 1889. "Vocabulario puri". Revista trimensal do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brazileiro, Rio de Janeiro, t. LII, parte Ia, pp.511-514.
6. Marlière, Guido Thomaz. 1906. "Escritos avulsos, correspondência" Revista do Arquivo Público Mineiro, Belo Horizonte, Ano X, fascículos III e IV, pp. 383-668.
7. Saint-Hilaire, Auguste de. 2000. Viagem pelas províncias do Rio de Janeiro e Minas Gerais. Belo Horizonte: Editora Itatiaia.
8. Schott, Heinrich Wilhelm. 1822. Tagebücher des K.K. Gärtners in Brasilien. vol. 2. Brünn.
9. 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.
10. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
11. Silva Neto, Ambrósio Pereira da Silva. 2007. Revisão da classificação da família lingüística Puri. M.A. dissertation, University of Brasília.
12. Nikulin, Andrey. 2020. Proto-Macro-Jê: um estudo reconstrutivo. Doctoral dissertation, University of Brasília.

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
• Kaufman, Terrence. (1994). The native languages of South America. In C. Mosley & R. E. Asher (Eds.), Atlas of the world's languages (pp. 46–76). London: Routledge.

External links

• PROEL: Familia Purían