Tuxá (Tusha; also ''Todela ~ Rodela, Carapató, Payacú'') was the eastern Brazilian language of the
Tuxá people, who now speak Portuguese and
Dzubukuá.
The language was believed to have ceased being spoken in the late 19th century, but in the 1960s a research team found two women that had been expelled from the Tuxa tribe in
Bahia
Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
who knew some thirty words.
It was spoken along the
São Francisco River
The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...
near
Glória, Bahia, and was reported by Loukotka (1968) to have more recently been in the village of
Rodelas,
Pernambuco
Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...
(now part of
Bahia
Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
).
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968)
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.
:
Pompeu (1958)
Tushá vocabulary collected by Antônio Likaro e Cordorina in
Rodelas:
[Pompeu Sobrinho, Thomaz. 1958. ''LÃnguas Tapuias desconhecidas do Nordeste: Alguns vocabulários inéditos''. Boletim de Antropologia (Fortaleza-Ceará) 2. 3-19.]
:
Meader (1978)
In 1961, Wilbur Pickering recorded the following word list in
Juazeiro,
Bahia
Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...
from Maria Dias dos Santos. She was an elderly rememberer of Tuxá who was born in
Rodelas, but later moved to
Juazeiro.
:
References
* (Tuxá wordlist §3.8, p30)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuxa Language
Indigenous languages of Northeastern Brazil
Extinct languages of South America
Language isolates of South America
Languages extinct in the 19th century