The Monde languages of

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 ...

form a branch of the Tupian

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term ''family'' is a metaphor borrowed from biology, with the tree model used in historical linguistics ...

. Cinta Larga is a

dialect cluster A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

spoken by a thousand people. Other languages are Mondé, Aruáshi, Suruí, Zoro, and Gavião do Jiparaná.

Classification

Internal classification of the Mondé languages according to Moore (2005):Moore, Denny. 2005
Classificação interna da família lingüística Mondé
''Estudos Lingüísticos'' 34: 515-520.
PDF
*Mondé ** Suruí (Paíter) ** ***Salamãy ( Mondé) *** **** Cinta Larga (3 groups: Kabínééy, Kakínééy, and Maamééy) **** ***** Gavião de Rondônia (Ikolééy) *****

Zoró The Zoró (autonym: ''Pangyjej'') are an indigenous people native to the states of Mato Grosso and Rondônia, Brazil. Their population was around 787 in 2020. Etymology The name Zoró originates from the word ''monshoro'' (dry head), which is a ...

(Pãgɨñééy) ***** Aruá ''Unclassified'': Arara do Guariba

Varieties

Below is a list of Mondé language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties. * Mondé - spoken on the Ouro River, tributary 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 (States of Brazil, Brazilian State). The list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries ...

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 ...

. *Sanamaica / Salamay - spoken on the left bank of the

. * Aruá - spoken on the

Branco River The Branco River (; Engl: ''White River'') is the principal affluent of the Rio Negro from the north. Basin The river drains the Guayanan Highlands moist forests ecoregion. It is enriched by many streams from the Tepui highlands which separat ...

near São Luís, Rondônia. *Digüt - spoken on the left bank of the Machado River. * Aruáshi - spoken by the neighbors of the Tupari tribe at the sources of the

. Kabanae (spoken by the "Arara nation" according to

Johann Natterer Johann Natterer (9 November 1787 – 17 June 1843) was an Austrian natural history, naturalist and List of explorers, explorer. He was the son of royal falconer Joseph Natterer and along with his brother Joseph Natterer (1786–1852) took a keen i ...

) and Matanau, are both extinct Monde languages that were spoken at the mouth of the

Aripuanã River Aripuanã River () is a river in the Mato Grosso and Amazonas states in north-western Brazil. It is a tributary of the Madeira River in the Amazon Basin. The town of Novo Aripuanã is located on its banks where it merges into the Madeira River. ...

. Word lists of Kabanae and Matanau were collected by

in 1829 during his expedition into 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 ...

(Jolkesky 2016: 640-641).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 ...

. Jolkesky (2016) also observed some similarities between the Arara do Rio Branco and the Monde languages; however, Arara do Rio Branco remains unclassified.

References

Tupian languages {{tupian-lang-stub *