Kaingang language
| Kaingang | |
|---|---|
| kanhgág | |
| Native to | Brazil |
| Region | São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul |
| Ethnicity | Kaingang people |
|
Native speakers
|
(18,000 cited 1989) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either: kgp – Kaingang zkp – São Paulo Kaingáng |
|
Linguist list
|
qr7 Wayaná (Guayaná) |
| Glottolog | kain1271 |
The Kaingang language (also spelled Kaingáng) is a Gê language spoken by the Kaingang people of southern Brazil. The Kaingang nation has about 30,000 people, and about from 60% to 65% speak the language. Most also speak Portuguese.
The Kaingang and Xokleng were previously considered a single ethnicity, which went by a number of names, including Amhó, Dorin, Gualachi, Chiqui, Ingain, Botocudo, Ivitorocái (= Amho), Kamé, Kayurukré, Tain (= Ingain), Taven. Some of these may have been tribal names; others were exonyms. Those living along the coast at the time of the Conquest were called Guayaná, and are considered to be the ancestors of the Kaingang. It is unknown to what extent the names might have corresponded to dialectal differences.
The Kaingang language is classified as a member of the Ge family, the largest language family in the Macro-Ge stock. The Kaingang territory occupies the modern states of São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul (and, until the beginning of the 20th century, Misiones, Argentina). Today they live in around 30 indigenous lands (similar to Native American reservations), especially at Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná.
In the 1960s, because of a missionary interest (conducted by the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL)), the language was studied by Ursula Wiesemann.
A large number of allophones map to a set of 14 phonemes:
All consonants have varying allophones depending on their position in the word and on the adjancency of nasal vowels:
Wiesemann proposed an alphabet for the language, which is still in use despite some problems. It is based on the Latin script, and consists of fourteen consonants and fourteen vowels, matching the fourteen consonants and fourteen vowels of the Kaingang language.
There are dictionaries and grammars available for Kaingang. A school was set up in 1969 to teach the Kaingang people to read and write their language. However, the school produced many Kaingang speakers who went back to their reservations to teach others and spread the writing innovations they learned. Only one of the dialects is used as the standard written form, though having the writing system provided a source of pride in the language for the Kaingang people. A Kaingang bible has been published, as well as a dictionary and other publications.
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Wikipedia