Southern Kayapó language explained

Southern Kayapó
States:Brazil
Region:Triângulo Mineiro, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo
Era:attested in 19th century
Ethnicity:Southern Kayapó
Familycolor:American
Fam1:Macro-Jê
Fam2:
Fam3:Cerrado
Fam4:Jê of Goyaz
Fam5:Panará–Kayapó do Sul
Isoexception:historical

Kayapó do Sul was a Jê language spoken by the Southern Kayapó people of Brazil in a vast region that comprised Triângulo Mineiro, Goiás, southeastern Mato Grosso, northeastern Mato Grosso do Sul, and northeastern São Paulo (Brazil), in particular on the rivers Rio Turvo, Corumbá, Meia Ponte, Tijuco, Rio das Velhas, Rio Pardo, Sucuriju, Aparé, Rio Verde, and Taquari.[1] Alternatively, it can be considered a historical period of Panará.[2]

Two dialects have been identified based on scarce documentation of the language. The variety spoken in São José de Mossâmedes (as attested by Johann Baptist Emanuel Pohl[3] and Augustin Saint-Hilaire in short wordlists) is characterized by the retention of the Proto-Goyaz Jê rhotic *r. In contrast, the variety spoken in Santana do Paranaíba (as attested by Kupfer,[4] Carl Nehring,[5] and Joaquim Lemos da Silva in short wordlists) and in the Triângulo Mineiro region (as documented by Barbosa in an extensive wordlist) innovated by palatalizing the rhotic (i.e. *r > j) in certain environments and has been hypothesized to be the ancestor of Panará.[2]

Phonology

Vowels!!Front!Central!Back
Closei, ĩɨ, ɨ̃u, ũ
Mide, ẽəo, õ
Opena, ã
Consonants!!!Labial!Alveolar!Palatal!Velar!Glottal
Stopvoicelessptk
prenasalᵐpⁿtᵑk
Affricatevoicelesst͡s
prenasalⁿt͡s
Fricative(s)ʃ
Nasalmnɲŋ
Sonorantwɾjh
/ʃ/ exists only in the Mossâmedes dialect. /ɲ, ŋ, h/ exist only in the Santana dialect.

Notes and References

  1. Nikulin . Andrey . 2020 . Proto-Macro-Jê: um estudo reconstrutivo . PhD dissertation . Brasília . Universidade de Brasília.
  2. Vasconcelos . Eduardo Alves . 2013 . Investigando a hipótese Cayapó do Sul-Panará . PhD dissertation . Campinas . Universidade Estadual de Campinas.
  3. POHL, J. E. Reise im Innern von Brasilien: auf allerhoechsten Befehl seiner Majestät des Kaisers von Österreich, Franz des Ersten, in den Jahren 1817–1821 unternommen. Vol. 1. Viena: A. Strauss’s Sel. Witwe e J. B. Wallishausser, 1832. 448 pp.
  4. KUPFER, Dr. Die Cayapo-Indianer in der Provinz Matto-Grosso. Zeitschrift für der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zu Berlin, Berlim, n. 5, p. 244–254, 1870.
  5. NEHRING, C. Sud-Cayapo: Wörterlisten. In: EHRENREICH, P. Materialen Zur Sprachekunde Brasiliens. Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie, n. 26, p. 136–137, 1894.