Wikipedia

Nambikwaran languages

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.

Nambikwaran
Geographic
distribution		Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Pará, in Brazil
Linguistic classificationOne of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions
Language codes
Glottolognamb1299

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

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.[4]

Genetic relations

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

Language contact

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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

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Jolkesky (2016)

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Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):[6]

(† = extinct)

Proto-language

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Proto-Nambikwaran
Proto-Nambiquara
Reconstruction ofNambikwaran languages

Proto-Nambiquara reconstructions by Price (1978):[7]

Bibliography

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  • 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.
  • Eberhard, David M. (2009). Mamaindê Grammar: a Northern Nambikwara language and its cultural context. LOT publications. ISBN 978-94-6093-012-6.
  • 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

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  1. ↑ Nambiquaran languages. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
  2. ↑ Kroeker, 2001 p. 1
  3. ↑ Ethnologue. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
  4. ↑ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
  5. ↑ Price, David P. 1978. The Nambiquara linguistic family. Anthropological Linguistics 20 (1): 14–37.
  6. 1 2 Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016. Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Brasília.
  7. ↑ 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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