The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in South America, of which the best known are

Tupi Tupi may refer to: * Tupi people of Brazil * Tupi or Tupian languages, spoken in South America ** Tupi language, an extinct Tupian language spoken by the Tupi people * Tupi oil field off the coast of Brazil * Tupi Paulista, a Brazilian municipalit ...

proper and Guarani.

Homeland and ''urheimat''

Rodrigues (2007) considers the Proto-Tupian urheimat to be somewhere between the Guaporé and

Aripuanã Aripuanã is a municipality in the state of Mato Grosso in the Central-West Region of Brazil. It is located on the banks of the Aripuanã River Aripuanã River ( pt, Rio Aripuanã) is a river in the Mato Grosso and Amazonas states in north-w ...

rivers, in the Madeira River basin. Much of this area corresponds to the modern-day state of

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, ...

, Brazil. 5 of the 10 Tupian branches are found in this area, as well as some Tupi–Guarani languages (especially Kawahíb), making it the probable urheimat of these languages and maybe of its speaking peoples. Rodrigues believes the

Proto-Tupian language Proto-Tupian (PT) is the reconstructed common ancestor of all the Tupian languages. It consists, therefore, of a hypothetical language, reconstructed by the comparative method from data of the descendant languages. In Brazil, Tupian historical- ...

dates back to around 3,000 BC.

Language contact

Tupian languages have extensively influenced many language families in South America. Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Arawa, Bora-Muinane, Guato, Irantxe, Jivaro, Karib, Kayuvava, Mura-Matanawi, Taruma, Trumai,

Yanomami The Yanomami, also spelled Yąnomamö or Yanomama, are a group of approximately 35,000 indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Etymology The ethnonym ''Yanomami ...

, Harakmbet, Katukina-Katawixi, Arawak, Bororo, Karaja, Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru,

Takana Takana is a forum of prominent personalities with the objective of fighting sexual abuse in the National Religious sector in Israel. The forum came to the spotlight in February 2010 when it published a statement claiming that Rabbi Mordechai Elo ...

Nadahup The Naduhup languages, also known as Makú (Macú) or ''Vaupés–Japurá'', form a small language family in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name '' Makú'' is pejorative, being derived from an Arawakan word meaning "without speech". ''N ...

, and Puinave-Kak language families due to contact.

History, members and classification

When the Portuguese arrived in Brazil, they found that wherever they went along the vast coast of this newly discovered land, most natives spoke similar languages.

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionaries took advantage of these similarities, systematizing common standards then named '' línguas gerais'' ("general languages"), which were spoken in that region until the 19th century. The best known and most widely spoken of these languages was

Old Tupi Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (also spelled as Tupí) is an extinct Tupian language which was spoken by the aboriginal Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. It belongs to the ...

, a modern descendant of which is still used today by indigenous peoples around the Rio Negro region, where it is known as ''

Nheengatu The Nheengatu language (Tupi: , nheengatu rionegrino: ''yẽgatu'', nheengatu tradicional: ''nhẽẽgatú'' e nheengatu tapajoawara: ''nheẽgatu''), often written Nhengatu, is an indigenous language of the Tupi-Guarani family, being then deri ...

'' (), or the "good language". However, the Tupi family also comprises other languages. In the neighbouring Spanish colonies, Guarani, another Tupian language closely related to Old Tupi, had a similar history, but managed to resist the spread of Spanish more successfully than Tupi resisted Portuguese. Today, Guarani has 7 million speakers, and is one of the official languages of Paraguay. The Tupian family also includes several other languages with fewer speakers. These share irregular morphology with the Je and Carib families, and Rodrigues connects them all as a Je–Tupi–Carib family.Rodrigues A. D., 2000, "‘Ge–Pano–Carib’ X ‘Jê–Tupí–Karib’: sobre relaciones lingüísticas prehistóricas en Sudamérica", in L. Miranda (ed.)
''Actas del I Congreso de Lenguas Indígenas de Sudamérica,'' Tome I
Lima, Universidad Ricardo Palma, Facultad de lenguas modernas, p. 95-104.

Rodrigues & Cabral (2012)

Rodrigues & Cabral (2012) list 10 branches of Tupian, which cluster into Western Tupian and Eastern Tupian.Rodrigues, Aryon Dall'Igna, and Ana Suelly Arruda Câmara Cabral (2012). "Tupían". In Campbell, Lyle, and Verónica Grondona (eds)
''The indigenous languages of South America: a comprehensive guide''
Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. Within Western and Eastern Tupian, the most divergent branches are listed first, followed by the core branches. *Western Tupian ** Arikém (2 languages) ** Tuparí (6 languages) ** Mondé (6 languages) ** Puruborá ** Ramaráma (Rondônia) (2 languages) *Eastern Tupian ** Yurúna (Jurúna) (3 languages) ** Mundurukú (2 languages) ** Mawé ** Awetï ** Tupi–Guarani (50 languages:

Tupí Tupí, also known as ''formatge de tupí'', is a fermented cheese of a certain area of the Pyrenees and Pre-Pyrenees made from cows' or sheep's milk. It is a cheese traditionally prepared in the mountainous Pallars region, as well as in the Cerda ...

xtinct Guaraní (5 million speakers), etc.) Meira and Drude (2015) posit a branch uniting Mawé and Aweti with Tupi-Guarani, also known as Maweti-Guarani.Meira, Sérgio and Sebastian Drude (2015). "A preliminary reconstruction of proto-Maweti-Guarani segmental phonology". ''Boletim do Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, série Ciências Humanas'', 10(2):275-296. Purubora may form a branch together with Ramarama.

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. († = extinct) ;Tupi family * Arikem **'' Arikem'' † **''

Karitiana The Karitiana or Caritiana are an indigenous people of Brazil, whose reservation is located in the western Amazon. They count 320 members, and the leader of their tribal association is Renato Caritiana. They subsist by farming, fishing and hunt ...

'' *

Monde A ''monde'', meaning 'world' in French, is an orb located near the top of a crown. It represents, as the name suggests, the world that the monarch rules. It is the point at which a crown's half arches meet. It is usually topped off either w ...

**''

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 sp ...

'' **Monde, Nuclear ***''

'' ***Cinta-Larga-Zoro ****''

Arua Arua is a city and commercial centre within the Arua District in the Northern Region of Uganda. Location Arua is approximately , by road, north-west of Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda, Arua is about , by road, west of Gulu, the ...

'' ****'' Cinta-Larga'' ****'' Gavião''; '' Zoro'' *Ramarama-Purubora **'' Purubora'' ** Ramarema: ''

Karo Karo may refer to: Ethnic groups * Karo people (East Africa), a group of tribes in East Africa * Karo people (Ethiopia), an ethnic group from Ethiopia * Karo people (Indonesia), the indigenous people of the Karo Plateau in North Sumatra Language ...

''; '' Urumi'' * Tupari **'' Makurap'' **Tupari, Nuclear ***Sakurabiat-Akuntsu ****'' Akuntsu'' ****'' Sakurabiat'' ***'' Kepkiriwat'' † ***'' Tupari'' ***'' Wayoro'' *Tupi, Nuclear ** Juruna ***'' Juruna'' ***'' Manitsawa'' † ***'' Shipaya'' ** Munduruku ***''

Kuruaya The Kuruaya people are an indigenous people of Brazil. They live along the tributaries of the lower Xingu River in the state of Pará. Currently there are approximately 159 living in their indigenous territory, the Kuruaya Indigenous Area.

'' ***'' Munduruku'' ** Mawe-Aweti-Tupi-Guarani ***'' Satere-Mawe'' ***Aweti-Tupi-Guarani ****''

Aweti The Aweti people are a group of Native Americans living in the Xingu Indigenous Park, close to the headwaters of the Xingu River in Brazil. The Aweti inhabit two villages in the region. One is called Tazu’jyretam, and the other is unnamed. ...

'' **** Tupi-Guarani (see)

Galucio et al. (2015)

Galucio et al. (2015) give the following

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

of Tupian, based on a

computational phylogenetic Computational phylogenetics is the application of computational algorithms, methods, and programs to phylogenetic

analysis. ;Tupian *Western (40.6% probability) **''

''; '' Puruborá'' ** Mondé ***'' Suruí'' ***Nuclear Mondé ****'' Salamãy'' ****'' Aruá''; '' Gavião'', '' Zoró'' *Eastern (40.6% probability) ** Arikém ***'' Karitiána'' ** Tuparí ***'' Makuráp'' ***Nuclear Tuparí ****'' Akuntsú'', '' Mekéns'' ****'' Wayoró'', '' Tuparí'' ** Mundurukú ***'' Mundurukú'' ***'' Kuruáya'' ** Jurúna ***'' Jurúna'' ***'' Xipáya'' ** Mawetí–Guaraní ***'' Mawé'' ***Awetí–Guaraní ****'' Awetí'' **** Tupí–Guaraní *****''

Parintintín The Parintintin are an indigenous people who live in Brazil in the Madeira River basin. They refer to themselves as Cabahyba, Kagwahiva’nga, or Kagwahiva, which means "our people." As of 2010, the Parintintin have a population of around 418 and ...

'' *****''

Tapirapé The Tapirapé indigenous people of Brazil survived the European conquest and subsequent colonization of the country, sustaining most of their culture and customs. Stationed deep into the Amazon rainforest, they had little direct contact with E ...

''; '' Urubú-Ka'apór'', '' Paraguayan Guaraní''

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.

References

External links

TuLaR (Tupían Language Resources)
* Swadesh lists of Tupi–Guarani basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
"A Arte da Língua Brasílica", grammar of Tupi, by Father Luiz Figueira, in Portuguese
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tupian Languages Language families Indigenous languages of Central Amazonia Indigenous languages of Western Amazonia