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The Nambikwaran languages are a
language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...
of half a dozen languages, all spoken in the state of Mato Grosso in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. They have traditionally been considered
dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
s of a single language, but at least three of them are mutually unintelligible. * Mamaindê (250-340) *
Nambikwara The Nambikwara (also called Nambikuára) is an indigenous people of Brazil, living in the Amazon. Currently about 1,200 Nambikwara live in indigenous territories in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso along the Guaporé and Juruena rivers. Thei ...
(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. The total number of speakers is estimated to be about 1,000, with Nambikwara proper being 80% of that number.Nambiquaran languages
Ethnologue. Retrieved on 2012-07-29.
Most Nambikwara are
monolingual Monoglottism (Greek μόνος ''monos'', "alone, solitary", + γλῶττα , "tongue, language") or, more commonly, monolingualism or unilingualism, is the condition of being able to speak only a single language, as opposed to multilingualism. ...
but some young men speak
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
. Especially the men of the Sabanê group are trilingual, speaking both Portuguese and Mamainde.


Genetic relations

Price (1978) proposes a relationship with
Kanoê The Kanoê (also as the Canoe, Kapixaná and Kapixanã) are an indigenous people of southern Rondônia, Brazil, near the Bolivian border. There are two major groups of Kanoê: one residing in the region of the Guaporé River and another in the Ri ...
(Kapixaná), but this connection is not widely accepted.


Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Aikanã, Irantxe, Itonama, Kanoe, Kwaza, Peba-Yagua,
Arawak The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. Specifically, the term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to the Lokono of South America and the Taíno, who historically lived in the Great ...
,
Bororo The Bororo are indigenous people of Brazil, living in the state of Mato Grosso. They also extended into Bolivia and the Brazilian state of Goiás. The Western Bororo live around the Jauru and Cabaçal rivers. The Eastern Bororo ( Orarimogodoge) ...
, and Karib language families due to contact.


Varieties


Jolkesky (2016)

Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho De Valhery. 2016.
Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas
'. Ph.D. dissertation,
University of Brasília The University of Brasília ( pt, Universidade de Brasília, UnB) is a federal public university in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. It was founded in 1960 and has since consistently been named among the top five Brazilian universities and the ...
.
(† = extinct) ;Nambikwara *'' Sabane'' *Nambikwara, Northern **Guaporé: '' Mamainde''; '' Negarote''; '' Tawende'' **Roosevelt: '' Lakonde''; '' Latunde''; '' Tawande'' *Nambikwara, Southern **Alantesu: '' Alantesu''; '' Hahãintesu''; '' Waikisu''; '' Wasusu'' **Halotesu: '' Halotesu''; '' Kithãulhu''; '' Wakalitesu''; '' Sawentesu'' **Manduka: '' Hukuntesu''; '' Niyahlosu''; '' Siwaisu'' **'' Sarare''


Loukotka (1968)

Below is a full list of Nambikwaran language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties. *Eastern dialects **Tagnaní - spoken on the Castanho River (
Roosevelt River The Roosevelt River (Rio Roosevelt, sometimes Rio Teodoro) is a Brazilian river, a tributary of the Aripuanã River about in length. Course The Roosevelt River begins in the state of Rondônia and flows north through tropical rainforest. It is ...
), Mato Grosso. **Tamaindé - spoken on the Papagaio River and Marquez de Sousa River, state of Mato Grosso. **Neneː - spoken at the confluence of the Juína River and Juruena River, Mato Grosso. **Tarunde - spoken in the same region on the . *Central dialects **Kokozú / Uaindze / Ualíxere - spoken on the left bank of the . **Anunze / Soálesu - spoken between the Papagaio River and Camararé River, Mato Grosso. **Kongoreː - spoken on the Buriti River, Mato Grosso. **Navaite - spoken on the Dúvida River, Mato Grosso. (Unattested) **Taduté - spoken by the neighbors of the Navaite tribe on the Dúvida River. *Western dialects **Tauité / Tawite - spoken on the Camararé River, state of Mato Grosso. **Uaintasú / Waintazú - spoken in Mato Grosso on the right bank of the
Pimenta Bueno River The Pimenta Bueno River is a river of Rondônia state in western Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Rondônia List of rivers in Rondônia (Brazilian State). The list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under ea ...
. (Unattested) **Mamaindé - spoken on the Cabixi River, state of Mato Grosso. (Unattested) **Uamandiri - spoken between the Cabixi River and
Corumbiara River The Corumbiara River is a river of Rondônia state in western Brazil. See also *List of rivers of Rondônia List of rivers in Rondônia (Brazilian State). The list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each l ...
. (Unattested) **Tauandé - spoken on the São Francisco Bueno River, Mato Grosso. (Unattested) **Malondeː - spoken in the same region but exact location unknown. (Unattested) **Unetundeː - spoken on the upper course of the Dúvida River. (Unattested) **Tapóya - language of the same region, exact location unknown. (Unattested) *Northern dialects **Sabané - spoken on the Ananáz River (now the Tenente Marques River) and Juína-Mirim River, state of Mato Grosso. **Jaiá - spoken on the Ananáz River (now the Tenente Marques River). (Unattested) **Lacondeː - spoken on the right bank of the Castanho River (
Roosevelt River The Roosevelt River (Rio Roosevelt, sometimes Rio Teodoro) is a Brazilian river, a tributary of the Aripuanã River about in length. Course The Roosevelt River begins in the state of Rondônia and flows north through tropical rainforest. It is ...
). (Unattested) Mason (1950) lists the following varieties under "Nambicuara proper":


Mason (1950)

*Northeastern **Eastern: Cocozu **Northeastern: Anunzé *Southwestern **Western: Tamaindé **Central and Southern ***Uaintazu ***Kabishi ***Tagnani ***Tauité ***Taruté ***Tashuité Sabane is listed by Mason (1950) as "Pseudo-Nambicuara" (Northern).


Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for various Nambikwaran languages.


Proto-language

Proto-Nambiquara reconstructions by Price (1978):Price, D. (1978). The Nambiquara Linguistic Family. In Anthropological Linguistics, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 14-37. Published by: Trustees of Indiana University. Accessed fro
DiACL
9 February 2020.


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. *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

{{South American languages Language families * ur:نمبیکوارائی زبانیں