The Tupi or Tupian language family comprises some 70 languages spoken in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, of which the best known are Tupi proper and Guarani.

Homeland and ''urheimat''

Rodrigues (2007) considers the Proto-Tupian

urheimat In historical linguistics, the homeland or ( , from German 'original' and 'home') of a proto-language is the region in which it was spoken before splitting into different daughter languages. A proto-language is the reconstructed or historicall ...

to be somewhere between the Guaporé and Aripuanã rivers, in the

Madeira River The Madeira River ( ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is the biggest tributary of ...

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). It is bordered by Acre (state), Acre in the west, Amazonas, Brazil, Amazonas in the north, Mato Grosso in the east, and Bo ...

, Brazil. Five of the ten Tupian branches are found in this area, as well as some

Tupi–Guarani languages Tupi–Guarani (/tuːˈpiː ɡwɑˈrɑːni/ /ɡwɑˈɾɑ-/; Tupi-Guarani: uˈpi ɡwaɾaˈni ) is the most widely distributed subfamily of the Tupian languages of South America. It consists of about fifty languages, including Guarani and Ol ...

(especially Kawahíb), making it the probable

of these languages and maybe of its speaking peoples. Rodrigues believes the Proto-Tupian language 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 of the Americas, indigenous people who live in some 200–250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. ...

, Harakmbet, Katukina-Katawixi,

Arawak The Arawak are a group of Indigenous peoples of northern South America and of the Caribbean. The term "Arawak" has been applied at various times to different Indigenous groups, from the Lokono of South America to the Taíno (Island Arawaks), w ...

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) l ...

, Karaja, Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru, Takana, Nadahup, and Puinave-Kak language families due to contact.

History, members and classification

When the Portuguese arrived in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, they found that wherever they went along the vast coast of South America, most of the indigenous peoples spoke similar languages.

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

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 () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

, a modern descendant of which is still used today by

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

around the Rio Negro region, where it is known as '' Nheengatu'' (), 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 Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

more successfully than Tupi resisted Portuguese. Today, Guarani has seven million speakers, and is one of the official languages of

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

. 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 ten 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. * Tupian ** 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 Cerdan ...

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 A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. († = extinct) *Tupi family ** Arikem ***'' Arikem'' ***'' Karitiana'' ** Monde ***''

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

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

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

Urumi An urumi is an Indian sword with a flexible, whip-like blade, secretly worn around the waist. Originating in modern-day Kerala, a state in southwestern India, it is thought to have existed from as early as the Sangam period. It is treated as ...

'' ** Tupari ***'' Makurap'' ***Tupari, Nuclear ****Sakurabiat-Akuntsu *****'' Akuntsu'' *****'' Sakurabiat'' ****'' Kepkiriwat'' ****'' Tupari'' ****'' Wayoro'' **Tupi, Nuclear *** Juruna ****'' Juruna'' ****'' Manitsawa'' ****'' Shipaya'' ***

Munduruku The Munduruku, also known as Mundurucu or Wuy Jugu, are an indigenous people of Brazil living in the Amazon River basin. Some Munduruku communities are part of the Coatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land. They had an estimated population in 2014 of 13 ...

****'' Kuruaya'' ****''

'' *** Mawe-Aweti-Tupi-Guarani ****'' Satere-Mawe'' ****Aweti-Tupi-Guarani *****'' Aweti'' ***** Tupi-Guarani (see)

Galucio et al. (2015)

Galucio et al. (2015) give the following

phylogenetic tree A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In ...

of Tupian, based on a

computational phylogenetic Computational phylogenetics, phylogeny inference, or phylogenetic inference focuses on computational and optimization algorithms, heuristics, and approaches involved in phylogenetic analyses. The goal is to find a phylogenetic tree representing op ...

analysis. *Tupian **Western (40.6% probability) ***'' Karo''; '' 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'' ******'' Tapirapé''; '' Urubú-Ka'apór'', ''

Paraguayan Guaraní The guaraní (, plural: ''guaraníes''; currency sign, sign: ₲; ISO 4217, code: PYG) is the national currency unit of Paraguay. The guaraní is divided into 100 céntimos but, because of inflation, céntimos coins are no longer in use. The ...

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