Timbira language

Last updated
Timbira
Native to Brazil
Region Maranhão, Pará, Tocantins
Ethnicity Timbira
Native speakers
5,000 (2005–2008) [1]
Dialects
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
ram  –  Canela
xra  –  Krahô
gvp  –  Pará Gavião
xri  –  Krĩkatí
xre  –  Krẽje
Glottolog timb1253

Timbira is a dialect continuum of the Northern Jê language group of the Jê languages ̣(Macro-Jê) spoken in Brazil. The various dialects are distinct enough to sometimes be considered separate languages. The principal varieties, Krahô /ˈkrɑːhoʊ/ [2] (Craó), and Canela /kæˈnɛlə/ [2] (Kanela), have 2000 speakers apiece, few of whom speak Portuguese. Pará Gavião has 600–700 speakers. Krẽje, however, is nearly extinct, with only 30 speakers in 1995.

Contents

Timibira has been intensive contact with various Tupi-Guarani languages of the lower Tocantins-Mearim area, such as Guajajára, Tembé, Guajá, and Urubú-Ka'apór. Ararandewára, Turiwára, Tupinamba, and Nheengatu have also been spoken in the area. Some of people in the area are also remembers of Anambé and Amanajé. [3]

Varieties

Linguistic varieties of Timbira include: [4]

Loukotka (1968)

Loukotka (1968) divides the Timbira tribes into two groups, Timbirá (Canela) and Krao. [5] The majority are included under Timbira:

Timbira (Canela)
Krao

Ramirez et al. (2015)

Ramirez et al. (2015) considers Timbira-Kayapó to be a dialect continuum, as follows: [6]

Canela-Krahô ↔ Gavião-Krĩkati ↔ Apinajé ↔ Kayapó ↔ Suyá-Tapayuna ↔ Panará-Kayapó do Sul

Apart from Kapiekran, all Krao varieties are recognized by the ISO. Under the Timbira group, Loukotka included several purported languages for which nothing is recorded: Kukoekamekran, Karákatajé, Kenpokatajé, Kanakatayé, Norokwajé (Ñurukwayé). The Poncatagê (Põkateye) are likewise unidentifiable.

Another common convention for division, though geographic rather than linguistic, is Western Timbira (Apinayé alone) vs Eastern Timbira (Canela, Krikatí, Krahô, Gavião, and others).

Gurupy is a river, sometimes used to refer to the Krenye.

Nikulin (2020)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tupi–Guarani languages</span> Subfamily of the Tupian languages, indigenous to South America

Tupi–Guarani is the most widely distributed subfamily of the Tupian languages of South America. It consists of about fifty languages, including Guarani and Old Tupi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tupian languages</span> Indigenous language family in South America

The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jê peoples</span>

Jê or Gê are the people who spoke Jê languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil, the Jê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Je–Tupi–Carib languages</span> Proposed language family of South America

Je–Tupi–Carib is a proposed language family composed of the Macro-Je, Tupian and Cariban languages of South America. Aryon Rodrigues (2000) based this proposal on shared morphological patterns. In an earlier proposal, Rodrigues (1985) had also proposed a Tupí-Cariban language family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macro-Jê languages</span> Language family in Brazil

Macro-Jê is a medium-sized language family in South America, mostly in Brazil but also in the Chiquitanía region in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, as well as (formerly) in small parts of Argentina and Paraguay. It is centered on the Jê language family, with most other branches currently being single languages due to recent extinctions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jê languages</span> Language group of Brazil

The Jê languages, or Jê–Kaingang languages, are spoken by the Jê, a group of indigenous peoples in Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bom Jesus do Tocantins, Tocantins</span> Municipality in North, Brazil

Bom Jesus do Tocantins is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Tocantins. Its population is estimated at 5,008 (2020), and its area is 1333 km2.

Irántxe /iˈɻɑːntʃeɪ/, also known as Mỹky (Münkü) or still as Irántxe-Münkü, is an indigenous language spoken by the Irántxe and Mỹky peoples in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. Recent descriptions of the language analyze it as a language isolate, in that it "bears no similarity with other language families". Monserrat (2010) is a well-reviewed grammar of the language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kariri languages</span> Extinct Macro-Ge dialect cluster of Brazil

The Karirí languages, generally considered dialects of a single language, were a group of languages formerly spoken by the Kiriri people of Brazil. It was spoken until the middle of the 20th century; the 4,000 ethnic Kiriri are now monolingual Portuguese speakers, though a few know common phrases and names of medicinal plants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamakã languages</span>

The Kamakã languages are a small family of extinct Macro-Jê languages of Bahía, northeastern Brazil. The attested Kamakã languages are:

The Xerénte or Akwẽ-Xerénte language is an Akuwẽ language of Brazil. It is spoken by the Xerente people in the Tocantins state between Rio do Sono and Rio Tocantins.

Pará Gavião is part of the Timbira dialect cluster of Brazil.

Proto-Tupian (PT) is the reconstructed common ancestor of all the Tupian languages. It consists, therefore, of a hypothetical language, reconstructed by the comparative method from data of the descendant languages.

Parkatêjê, or Pará Gavião, is a Timbira variety of the Jê language family of Brazil. It is spoken by 12 individuals in Terra Indígena Mãe Maria. It is closely related to Kỳikatêjê, spoken by another Timbira group in the same reservation. Parkatêjê has been described and documented by Leopoldina Araújo and, more recently, by other researchers from the Federal University of Pará.

The Northern Jê or Core Jê languages are a branch of the Jê languages constituted by the Timbira dialect continuum and a number of languages spoken to the west of the Tocantins River, the Trans-Tocantins languages Apinajé, Mẽbêngôkre, Kĩsêdjê, and Tapayúna. Together with Panará, they form the Goyaz branch of the Jê family.

The Trans-Tocantins languages are a proposed subgroup of the Northern Jê languages, which comprises four languages spoken to the west of the Tocantins River: Apinajé, Mẽbêngôkre, Kĩsêdjê, and Tapayúna. It is subdivided in a binary manner into Apinajé, spoken to the east of the Araguaia River, and the Trans-Araguaia subbranch, which includes the remaining three languages. Together with the Timbira dialect continuum, the Trans-Tocantins languages make up the Northern branch of the Jê family.

PykobjêPykobjê-Gavião, Gavião, Pyhcopji, or Gavião-Pyhcopji) is a dialect of Pará Gavião, a Northern Jê language, spoken by the Gavião-Pykobjê people in Terra Indígena Governador close to Amarante, Maranhão, Brazil.

Kỳikatêjê or Kyikatêjê is a dialect of Pará Gavião, a Jê language of Brazil. It spoken by the Kỳikatêjê people in Terra Indígena Mãe Maria. Almost all speakers are over 40 years old; the younger generations have shifted to Portuguese. Kỳikatêjê is closely related to the Parkatêjê dialect, spoken by another Timbira group in the same reservation.

The Kỳikatêjê (Gavião-Kỳikatêjê) are an indigenous people of Brazil. Their original language is Kỳikatêjê, a Timbira language of the Jê languages language family (Macro-Jê) most closely related to Parkatêjê. The Kỳikatêjê currently live in Terra Indígena Mãe Maria, but their original location was located further to the east, up the Tocantins River in the state of Maranhão.

The Tenetehára or Teneteharan languages are a subgroup of the Tupi–Guarani language family.

References

  1. ↑ Canela at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Krahô at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Pará Gavião at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Krĩkatí at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Krẽje at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  3. ↑ Cabral, Ana Suelly Arruda Câmara; Beatriz Carreta Corrêa da Silva; Maria Risolta Silva Julião; Marina Maria Silva Magalhães. 2007. Linguistic diffusion in the Tocantins-Mearim area. In: Ana Suelly Arruda Câmara Cabral; Aryon Dall’Igna Rodrigues (ed.), Línguas e culturas Tupi, p. 357–374. Campinas: Curt Nimuendaju; Brasília: LALI.
  4. ↑ Nikulin, Andrey (2020). Proto-Macro-Jê: um estudo reconstrutivo (PDF) (Ph.D. dissertation). Brasília: Universidade de Brasília.
  5. ↑ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages . Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  6. ↑ 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
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.