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Wikipedia / 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 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.

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.

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)

Nambikwaran

Nambikwara, Northern

Nambikwara, Southern

==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

ur:نمبیکوارائی زبانیں