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 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]
- Mamaindê (250-340)
- Lakondê (1)
- Latundê (19)
- Nambikwara (720)
- Sabanê (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
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)
Proto-language
Proto-Nambiquara reconstructions by Price (1978):[7]
Proto-Nambiquara reconstructions by Price (1978)
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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.
- 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
- ^ Nambiquaran languages. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
- ^ Kroeker, 2001 p. 1
- ^ Ethnologue. Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
- ^ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian languages: the historical linguistics of Native America. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.