Nambikwaran languages
Nambikwaran languages
Main page
1156253

Nambikwaran languages

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
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.

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.

Price (1978) proposes a relationship with Kanoê (Kapixaná), but this connection is not widely accepted.

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.

Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016):

(† = extinct)

Below is a full list of Nambikwaran language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.