Mato Grosso Arára language explained

Arára
Nativename:Yugapkatã
States:Brazil
Region:Mato Grosso
Extinct:20th century
Familycolor:American
Family:unclassified
Iso3:axg
Glotto:mato1253
Glottorefname:Mato Grosso Arára

Mato Grosso Arára (also disambiguated as Arara do Beiradão or Arara do Rio Branco, and also known as Koaiá ~ Koayá or Yugapkatã[1]) is an extinct unclassified language of Brazil. The ethnic population that spoke the language numbers about 150.

Classification

The language is unclassified, with no known connections to established families. It is attested in a single word list, which shows it is neither Tupian nor Arawakan. Four people remembered the language in 2001, and two in 2008, but none were fluent speakers.[2]

Jolkesky (2010) notes some lexical similarities with Tupian.[3]

Vocabulary

The following vocabulary list was collected in 2011 by Inês Hargreaves from two Arara groups in the north of the Parque Aripuanã, Rondônia. The informants were João Luis V. Arara, José Rodrigues V. Arara, Maria Aruy Arara, and Ana Anita Arara.[4]

Arara do Rio Branco word list
Arara do Rio BrancoEnglish
mbajachild
no paiclaw
kubai witto drink
no beʃiaear
no ka pĩneye
arekafire
no piafoot
nukijgood
mbaphair
kopaphead
ndukalouse
be mouth
no jannose
wjaʔstone
noĩntooth
adɛwater

For a more extensive vocabulary list of Arara by Jolkesky (2010),[5] see the corresponding Portuguese article.

Notes and References

  1. Ramirez, Henri. 2010. Etnônimos e topônimos no Madeira (séculos XVI-XX): um sem-número de equívocos. Revista Brasileira de Linguística Antropológica v. 2 n. 2, p. 179-224. (PDF)
  2. Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  3. Jolkesky, Marcelo. 2010. Arara do Rio Branco e o tronco Tupí.
  4. Web site: Arara do Rio Branco. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220930/http://www2.unucseh.ueg.br/gicli/Swadeshlist/AraradoRioBranco.pdf. 3 March 2016. 8 July 2018. en, pt. www2.unucseh.ueg.br.
  5. Jolkesky, Marcelo. 2010. Arara do Rio Branco e o tronco Tupí.