- Source: Nambikwaran languages
The Nambikwaran languages are a language family of half a dozen languages, all spoken in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. They have traditionally been considered dialects of a single language, but at least three of them are mutually unintelligible.
Mamaindê (250-340)
Nambikwara (720)
Sabanê (3)
The varieties of Mamaindê are often seen as dialects of a single language but are treated as separate Northern Nambikwaran languages by Ethnologue. Sabanê is a single speech community and thus has no dialects, while the Nambikwara language has been described as having eleven.
The total number of speakers is estimated to be about 1,000, with Nambikwara proper being 80% of that number. Most Nambikwara are monolingual but some young men speak Portuguese. Especially the men of the Sabanê group are trilingual, speaking both Portuguese and Mamainde.
Genetic relations
Price (1978) proposes a relationship with Kanoê (Kapixaná), but this connection is not widely accepted.
Language contact
Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Aikanã, Irantxe, Itonama, Kanoe, Kwaza, Peba-Yagua, Arawak, Bororo, and Karib language families due to contact.
Varieties
= Jolkesky (2016)
=Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):
(† = extinct)
= Loukotka (1968)
=Below is a full list of Nambikwaran language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.
Mason (1950) lists the following varieties under "Nambicuara proper":
= Mason (1950)
=Sabane is listed by Mason (1950) as "Pseudo-Nambicuara" (Northern).
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for various Nambikwaran languages.
Proto-language
Proto-Nambiquara reconstructions by Price (1978):
Bibliography
Costa, Januacele Francisca da; W. Leo M. Wetzels. 2008. Proto-Nambikwara Sound Structure. Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Araujo, G. A. (2004). A Grammar of Sabanê: A Nambikwaran Language. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 94. Utrecht: LOT.
Gomes, M. A. C. F. (1991). Dicionário Mamaindé-Português/Português-Mamaindé. Cuiabá: SIL.
Kroeker, M. H. (1996). Dicionário escolar bilingüe Nambikuara-Português, Português-Nambikuara. Porto Velho: SIL.
Price, D. P. (1978). The Nambiquara Linguistic Family. Anthropological Linguistics 20:14-37.
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Nambikwaran languages
- Kanoê language
- Mamaindê language
- Itonama language
- Peba–Yaguan languages
- Evidentiality
- Languages of Brazil
- Sabanê language
- List of language families
- Nambikwara language
