The

Tapajós The Tapajós ( ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. Prior to a drastic increase in illegal gold mi ...

(also called Suyá and Trans-Xingu) languages are a close-knit group of the

Northern Jê languages The Northern Jê or Core Jê languages ( Portuguese: ''Jê Setentrionais'') are a branch of the Jê languages constituted by the Timbira dialect continuum (which includes Canela, Krahô, Pykobjê, Krikati, Parkatêjê, and Kỳikatêjê) a ...

, which comprises Kĩsêdjê and Tapayúna (Kajkwakhrattxi). It is closely related to Mẽbêngôkre; together, they make up the Trans-Araguaia branch of Northern Jê. Although both Tapajós languages are now spoken in the

Xingu River The Xingu River ( ; ; ) is a river in north Brazil. It is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River and one of the largest clearwater rivers in the Amazon basin, accounting for about 5% of its water. __TOC__ Description and history The fir ...

basin rather than on the

, this is known to be a consequence of two independent eastbound demic movements. The Kĩsêdjê arrived in their current location around the Suiá-miçu River in the second half of the 19th century from the west; their migration route included the headwaters of the Manitsauá-miçu River, the Arraias River, and the Ronuro River (all of them are left tributaries of the Xingu). In contrast, the Tapayúna stayed in the Tapajós basin (in the

Arinos Arinos is a municipality in northern Minas Gerais state in Brazil. Arinos is located east of the Federal District on the Urucuia River, a major tributary of the São Francisco. The city is 333 km from Brasília. The municipality belongs to ...

region) until late 1960s, where they were decimated by the local rubber tappers and ranchers; the 41 survivors were transferred to the

Xingu Indigenous Park The Xingu Indigenous Park (, pronounced ) is an indigenous territory of Brazil, first created in 1961 as a national park in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Its official purposes are to protect the environment and the several nations of Xingu I ...

in 1969.

Phonology

Onsets

The Tapajós languages do not employ the feature oicefor establishing contrasts between phonemes, as its ancestor Proto-Northern Jê did. At some point in the history of the Tapajós languages, Proto-Northern Jê voiceless stops became aspirated (with a subsequent change ''*pʰ'' > ''*h(ʷ)''), and Proto-Northern Jê voiced stops were devoiced. In addition, the

palatal The palate () is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly sepa ...

stops were dentalized, whereas the original dentialveolar consonants acquired considerable retraction. The following table summarizes the defining innovations of the Tapajós group. The following onsets can be reconstructed for Proto-Tapajós (the allophones which occur before nasal and oral nuclei respectively are separated by slashes).

References

Jê languages Languages of Brazil {{Macro-Jê-lang-stub