| Ofayé | |
| States: | Brazil |
| Region: | Mato Grosso do Sul |
| Ethnicity: | 60 Ofayé people (2006) |
| Speakers: | 2 |
| Date: | 2005 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | American |
| Fam1: | Macro-Jê |
| Iso3: | opy |
| Glotto: | ofay1240 |
| Glottorefname: | Ofayé |
| Elp: | 1740 |
| Map: | Ofaye language.png |
The Ofayé or Opaye language, also Ofaié-Xavante, Opaié-Shavante, forms its own branch of the Macro-Jê languages. It is spoken by only a couple of the small Ofayé people, though language revitalization efforts are underway. Grammatical descriptions have been made by the Pankararú linguist Maria das Dores de Oliveira (Pankararu),[1] as well as by Sarah C. Gudschinsky[2] and Jennifer E. da Silva, from the Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul.
It was spoken on the Ivinhema River, Pardo River, and Nhandú River in Mato Grosso do Sul. Guachi, spoken on the Vacaria River in Mato Grosso do Sul, is a dialect.[3]
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru languages due to contact.[4]
The consonantal inventory of Ofayé is as follows.
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Oral sonorant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
The vowel inventory of Ofayé is as follows.
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close-mid | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ |
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[3]
| gloss | Opaie | |
|---|---|---|
| one | enex-há | |
| two | yakwári | |
| tongue | chü-õrá | |
| foot | chü-gareyé | |
| fire | mitáu | |
| tree | komekatá | |
| jaguar | woki | |
| house | shüa | |
| white | õká |