Tupari languages

Tupian language branch of Brazil

The Tuparí languages of Brazil form a branch of the Tupian language family.

Internal classification

The Tupari languages are:^[1][2]

• Tupari
  • Makuráp
  • Nuclear Tupari
    • Akuntsu–Mekéns (Sakirabiá, Waratégaya)
    • Tuparí, Kepkiriwát, Wayoró

None are spoken by more than a few hundred people.

A more recent internal classification by Nikulin & Andrade (2020) is given below:^[3]

• Tuparian
  • Makurap
  • Core Tuparian
    • Wayoró–Tuparí
      • Wayoró
      • Tuparí
    • Corumbiara
      • Mekéns
      • Akuntsú

Varieties

Below is a list of Tupari language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.^[4]

• Tupari
  • Macuráp group
    • Macuráp - spoken at the sources of the Colorado River (Rondônia).
    • Kanuːa / Koaratíra / Canoê - spoken in the valley of Apidía and on the middle course of the Verde River, Rondônia.
    • Amniapé - spoken at the sources of the Mequéns River.
    • Guaratégaja / Mequen - spoken at the sources of the Verde River and Mequéns River in the same region.
    • Kabishiana - spoken between the Corumbiara River and Verde River, Rondônia.
    • Wayoró / Wyarú - spoken at the sources of the Terevinto River and Colorado River (Rondônia).
    • Apichum - spoken in the same region but exact location unknown.
    • Tupari / Wakaraü - once spoken on the upper course of the Branco River or São Simão River, the same territory; now probably extinct.
  • Kepkeriwát group
    • Kepkeriwát / Quepi-quiri-uate - spoken on the right bank of the Pimenta Bueno River.

Proto-language

Proto-Tuparí reconstructions by Moore and Vilacy Galucio (1994):^[5]

Syntax

In all Tuparian languages, the main clauses follow the cross-linguistically rare nominative–absolutive pattern. Person prefixes on the verb are absolutive, i.e., they index the sole argument of an intransitive verb (S) and the patient argument ('direct object') of a transitive verb (P). Person pronouns, which follow the verb (either cliticizing to it or not) are nominative: they may encode the sole argument of an intransitive verb (S) or the agent argument of a transitive verb (A), but not the patient of a transitive verb (P). The example below is from Wayoró.^[6]: 99

V:verb

Eamõjãn

/e-amõc-a-t

2-dance-TH-NFUT

s-V

(en).

(ẽt)/

(2.NOM)

(S)

Eamõjãn (en).

/e-amõc-a-t (ẽt)/

2-dance-TH-NFUT (2.NOM)

s-V (S)

‘You danced.’

Etopkwap

/e-top-kʷ-a-p

2-see-PL-TH-p

p-V

nã

nã

FUT

 

on.

õt/

1.NOM

A

Etopkwap nã on.

/e-top-kʷ-a-p nã õt/

2-see-PL-TH-p FUT 1.NOM

p-V {} A

‘I’ll see you every day.’

References

1. Nikulin, Andrey; Fernando O. de Carvalho. 2019. Estudos diacrônicos de línguas indígenas brasileiras: um panorama. Macabéa – Revista Eletrônica do Netlli, v. 8, n. 2 (2019), p. 255-305. (PDF)
2. Andrade, Rafael (to appear). As consoantes alvéolo-dentais do Proto-Tuparí: revisão e reconstrução fonológica. In: OLIVEIRA, Christiane Cunha de (ed.). Memórias do II Encontro dos Americanistas no Cerrado. Goiânia: Universidade Federal de Goiás.
3. Nikulin, Andrey; Rafael Andrade. 2020. The rise and fall of approximants in the Tuparian languages. Journal of Language Relationship 18/4 (2020), pp. 284–319.
4. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
5. Moore, D. & Vilacy Galucio, A. (1994). Reconstruction of Proto-Tupari consonants and vowels. In Langdon, M. (eds.), Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, Report 8. 119-30, Columbus: Ohio State University. Accessed from DiACL, 9 February 2020.
6. Galucio, Ana Vilacy; de Souza Nogueira, Antônia Fernanda (20 July 2018). "From object nominalization to object focus: The innovative A-alignment in the Tuparian languages (Tupian family)". Journal of Historical Linguistics. 8 (1): 95–127. doi:10.1075/jhl.16025.gal.

External links

• Amazonian Languages of Rondônia and Bolivia