The Akuwẽ
or Central Jê
languages are a branch of the
Jê languages
The Jê languages (also spelled Gê, Jean, Ye, Gean), or Jê–Kaingang languages, are spoken by the Jê, a group of indigenous peoples in Brazil.
Genetic relations
The Jê family forms the core of the Macro-Jê family. Kaufman (1990) finds t ...
constituted by two extant languages (
Xavánte and
Akwẽ-Xerénte) and two extinct or dormant, scarcely attested languages (
Xakriabá and
Acroá). Together with the
Goyaz Jê languages, they form the
Cerrado
The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are t ...
branch of the
Jê family.
Phonology
The Akuwẽ languages share a number of characteristic innovations, such as the ''Akuwẽ/Central Jê vowel shift'',
the sound change ''*ka- > *wa-'',
and the ''occlusive merger'',
which distinguish them clearly from all other Jê languages.
A characteristic feature of the Akuwẽ languages is the existence of complex allomorphy patterns whereby the choice of the allomorph is conditioned by the position of the word within a syntagm (i.e. whether the word is in the middle or in the end of a syntagm).
It has been suggested that it is possible to derive both allomorphs (those that occur syntagm-internally and those that occut syntagm-finally) from uniform underlying representations, which involve underlying codas.
Historical development
The onsets of
Proto-Cerrado have evolved in the following way in Proto-Akuwẽ.
Note that the onsets ''*p'', ''*t'', and ''*k(r)'' are synchronically found preceding not only non-high oral vowels in Proto-Akuwẽ, but also preceding innovative high vowels (''*i'', ''*u'' < Proto-Cerrado ''*ê'', ''*ô'') and nasal vowels (such as ''*õ'', ''*ə̃'' < ''*u'', ''*a''). The reflexes ''*b'', ''*d'', and ''*h'' are found preceding only those vowels that were already high in Proto-Cerrado.
Lexicon
Predicate number
The Akuwẽ languages commonly employ different
lexeme
A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms taken ...
s for singular, dual, and plural predicates.
Although the lexicalized expression of verbal number is pervasive in the
Jê family in general, the Akuwẽ languages are remarkable in having triads (rather than dyads) of verbs contrasting in number.
References
{{Macro-Jê languages
Jê languages
Languages of Brazil