Kamayurá language
| Kamayurá | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Brazil |
| Region | Upper Xingu region |
| Ethnicity | Kamayurá people |
|
Native speakers
|
600 (2014) |
|
Tupian
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | kama1373 |
The Kamayurá language (Kamaiurá in Portuguese) belongs to the Tupi–Guarani family, and is spoken by the Kamayurá people of Brazil – who numbered about 600 individuals in 2014. There is speculation that as the indigenous peoples who spoke the Tupi languages mingled with other indigenous peoples, their languages gradually changed accordingly. This speculation is consistent with research done by linguists who study languages in different regions in order to find similarities and differences between languages. The Kamayurá people live in the Mato Grosso region of Brazil, specifically in the Upper Xingu area.
The Kamayurá people do not have their own specific schools and rely on teaching each other the language, however, there have been a couple of youths, since the year 2000, that have participated in the Teacher Training Course. The Teacher Training Course strives to keep an indigenous language alive as well as educates individuals in the current national language of Brazil, in this case Portuguese.
Currently, there are many transcribed works of the Kamayurá language as well as many grammatical concepts. Lucy Seki, is credited with the completion of a book detailing the grammar of the Kamayurá language In her book “Gramatica do Kamaiura” (“Grammar of the Kamaiura”) Lucy goes into detail on morphological structures and various phonological features of the Kamayurá language, however, Lucy’s work does not stop there, she is also responsible for having documented many works that were otherwise undocumented, this allows for the preservation of the Kamayurá as a language and as a culture. Through her work with the Kamayurá she has also earned the status of an honorary member in the Linguistic Society of America. In an interview done by “Nova Raiz” in September 2011 it appears that Lucy Seki has retired, but continues to speak positively of her work with the Kamayurá.
Vowel Phonemes
The "glottal approximants" /h/ and /hʷ/ assume the quality of the following vowel.
Consonant Phonemes
Kamayurá is one of the few languages in the world with two mechanisms for causation that differ in how involved the causer is in the action. The prefix mo- indicates that the causer was not involved in the activity ("he stopped in the canoe when he was outside it") while the prefix (e)ro- expresses that it was involved ("he stopped in the canoe when he was inside it").
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