Suruí (of Jiparaná), also known as Paíter or Suruí-Paíter, is a
Tupian language
The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani.
Homeland and ''urheimat''
Rodrigues (2007) considers the Proto-Tupian urheimat to be somewhere between ...
of
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 ...
. The Suruí of Rondônia call themselves
Paiter
The Paiter, also known as Suruí, Suruí do Jiparaná, and Suruí de Rondônia, are an indigenous people of Brazil, who live in ten villages near the Mato Grosso– Rondônia border. They are farmers, who cultivate coffee.
Language
The Paiter ...
, which means “the true people, we ourselves". They speak a language of the Tupi group and Monde language family. There were 1,171 Suruí-Paíter in 2010.
Phonology
Vowels
Consonants
* /β/ can be heard as either
or
in free variation, and as
when before voiceless consonants.
* Sounds /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ/, can be heard as
̚, t̚, k̚, m̚, n̚, ŋ̚in word-final position.
* /b/ can be heard as prenasal
bwhen after a nasal vowel, or when in initial position.
* /h/ can be heard as voiced
when between vowels. It is also said to be heard as a voiceless lateral
̥ among elder speakers.
* /j/ can be heard as nasal
̃when preceding or in between nasal vowels.
References
External links
*
ELAR archive
The Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) is a digital archive for materials on endangered languages, based at Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW). The Archive preserves digital collections, including audio and video recordi ...
o
Documentation of Gavião and Suruí Languages in whistled and instrumental speechby Julien Meyer
*
ELAR archive
The Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) is a digital archive for materials on endangered languages, based at Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW). The Archive preserves digital collections, including audio and video recordi ...
o
Language Documentation of traditional culture among the Gavião and Suruí of Rondôniaby Dennis Moore
Tupian languages
{{tupian-lang-stub
Mamoré–Guaporé linguistic area