Tupi-Guarani languages
The Tupi-Guarani languages make up a subfamily of 53 languages of the macro-Tupi family that are or were spoken in countries such as Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela.
It comprises eleven subgroups and one unclassified language. Eleven languages are extinct and at least eight others are in danger of extinction. It is the most important subfamily of the Tupi family, the one with the greatest geographical extension in the territory of South America. In addition, the Tupi-Guarani languages are probably the best-studied group of languages in the Amazon, having conveniently reconstructed proto-Tupi-Guarani (proto-TG).
History
The name of this branch of macro-Tupi languages comes from the three historically most important languages of this branch: Tupi, Tupinambá (which in its creoleized version was called ñe'engatú or língua geral) and the Guaraní language, which is currently the official language in places like Paraguay, Bolivia and the province of Corrientes (Argentina), and which has several million speakers.
The Tupinambá lived along the coast, with most of the population being in what is now the Rio de Janeiro area and further north. This group was the largest of the indigenous groups initially contacted by the Portuguese. Their language reached such a length that during the 16th and 17th centuries their language was simply called língua brasílica or brasiliano, the name tupinambá appearing around the XVIII. The priest José de Anchieta (1595) extensively documented the earliest stage of this language, noting that it was the "language most used along the coast of Brazil", surpassing in the first period of colonization to portuguese. Tupinambá has been an important source of lexical borrowing into Brazilian Portuguese, especially with regard to flora and fauna. Several of these words have spread massively to other languages, including: tapioca (< typy ʔók-a) jaguar (< jawár-a), cassava (< mani ʔók-a), toucan (< tukán-a) or tapir (< tapi ʔír-a).
The Guarani living south of what is now São Paulo were the largest group with which Spanish explorers had contact on the east coast of South America. The ancient Guarani, documented and described by Antonio Ruiz de Montoya (1639). Unlike Tupi and Tupinambá, Guarani is not an extinct language, but over time it has become one of the largest indigenous languages in the Americas, currently with almost 5 million speakers (2007).
Tupí proper was closely related to Tupinambá, although it shares with Guarani the absence of final consonants. The Tupi lived in the area of what is now São Paulo, in the São Vicente area and on the upper reaches of the Tieté River. The creolized form of this language was called língua geral paulista. At present, Tupi, unlike the creolized version of tumpinambá or ñe'engatu, is an extinct language.
Family languages
The term Tupí-Guarani was first used by Alfred Métraux, the first anthropologist to use chronicle data from the 16th and 17th centuries on the Tupinambá and Guarani. And although there were attempts to classify the languages of this branch in the 1940s and 1950s, the first classification based on linguistic data, instead of geographic data or lists of ethnonyms, is that of Rodrigues (1958) originally presented in the XXXII International Congress of Americanists. This classification made it possible to clearly recognize the Tupi-Guarani branch of the rest of the languages that make up the macro-Tupi family. The following table summarizes the classification proposed by Rodrigues:
| Subgroup | Language | Dialects | Geographical coverage | Estimated number of speakers | ISO/DIS 639-3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subgroup I | Old Guaraní or classic guaraní or Jesuit Guaraní | Guaraní Jesuit missions | Only preserved in manuscripts of the Jesuit period | ||
| Guaraní criollo or Avañe'e | - Guaraní Paraguay, - Guaraní correntino | Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia | ~4 850 000 (1997)
| [gug] | |
| Guaraní boliviano occidental o simba | Chuquisaca (Bolivia) | 7000 (1987) 5000 (2000) | [gnw] | ||
| Guaraní chaqueño or chiriguano | Izoceño, avá | Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina | 70 000 (1986) 15 000-50 000 (1991) 70 000 (1997) 49 000 (2000) 67 000 (2002) (15 000 Swiss) 51 230 (2007) | [gui] | |
| Guaraní Mbyá | Tambéopé, baticola | Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina | 8000-8500 (1997) 17 500 (2000) 3000 (2002) 25 450 (2007) 25 000 (2008) | [gun] | |
| Aché (guayakí) | Four dialects, one of them almost extinct | Paraguay | 350 (1986) 850 (2002) 1500 (2006) 1360 (2007) | [guq] | |
| Kaiwá | Teüi, Tembekuá, Kaiwám | Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil), Argentina | 29 000 (1986) 12 500-14 600 (1990) 29 000 (1997) 11 000-14 000 (1998) 15 500 (2000) 19 500 (2002) 18.510 (2003) | [kgk] | |
| Pãí tavyterá | (for some part of the Kaiwá complex) | Eastern Paraguay, Argentina | 10 000 (2000) 15 000-20 000 (2007) | [pta] | |
| Chiripá | Apapocuva | East of Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil | 11 000 (1991) 11 900 (1995-2000) | [nhd] | |
| Xetá | Paraná (Brazil) | 3 (1990). Almost extinct | [xet] | ||
| Tapieté, Ava or ñandeva, | chané | Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia | 9200 (1997) 4900 (2002) 2440 (2007) | [tpj] | |
| Subgroup II Guarayú-Sirionó-Jorá | Guarayú | Northeast of the Guarayos River area, Beni (Bolivia) | 5000-8000 (1991) 5000 (1997) 5930 (2000) 5000 (2002) 5933 (2007) | [gyr] | |
| Siriono | East Beni and northeast of Santa Cruz (Bolivia) | 300-800 (1991) 399 -400 (2000) 650 (2002) | [srq] | ||
| Yuqui | Cochabamba (Bolivia) | 50-100 (1991) 120 (2000) | [yuq] | ||
| Jora | Bolivia | 5-10 (1991) Extinction (current) | [jor] | ||
| Subgroup III | Cocama-Cocamilla | Cocamilla, coca (or kokama) | Peru, Brazil, Colombia | 15 196-18 396 (1997) 260 - 2050 (2000) | [cod] |
| Omagua | Aizuare, Curacirari, Paguana | Iquitos (Peru). There may be no more speakers in Brazil. | 10-100 (1976). Almost extinct | [omg] | |
| Potiguára | Paraíba (Brazil) | Extinction | [pog] | ||
| Tupinikim | Espírito Santo y Bahía (Brazil) | Extinction | [tpk] | ||
| Tupinambá | Atlantic coast, from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon (Brazil) | Extinction | [tpn] | ||
| Tupi | paulist geral lingua | Current state of São Paulo (Brazil) | Extinction | [tpw] | |
| Ñe'engatú | Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela | 3000 (1997) 8000 (1998-2000) 3000 (2002) ECU6000 (2007) | [yrl] | ||
| Subgroup IV | Asuriní | Río Tocantins, Pará (Brazil) | 300 (2001) | [asu] | |
| Avá-canoeiro | Goiás y valle del alto Tocantins (Brazil) | 40 (1998) 100 (2002) | [avv] | ||
| Guajajára | Pindare, zutiua, mearim, I feared Gurupí | About 80 villages in the Maranhão Basin (Brazil) | 10 000 (1997) 15 000 (2000) 10 000 (2002) 10 200 (2007) | [gub] | |
| Suruí do Pará | Pará (Brazil) | 180 (1997) 140 (2000) 150 (2002) | [mdz] | ||
| Parakanã | Under river Xingú, Pará (Brazil) | 350 (2002) 900 (2004) | [pak] | ||
| Tapirapé | Northeast of Mato Grosso (Brazil) | 350 (2000) 200-350 (2002) 500 (2003) | [taf] | ||
| Tembé | Maranhão (Brazil) | 150 -180 (2000) 100-200 (2002) 800 (2007) | [tqb] | ||
| Subgroup V | Asuriní xingú | Pará (Brazil) | 110 (2002) | [asn] | |
| Araweté | Amazonas (Brazil) | 80 (2002) 290 (2003) | [awt] | ||
| Kayabí | North of Mato Grosso and South of Pará (Brazil) | 500 (1997) 1000 (1999) 800 (2000-2002) | [kyz] | ||
| Subgroup VI | Amundava | Rondônia (Brazil) | 83 (2003) | [adw] | |
| Apiacá | North of Mato Grosso (Brazil) | 190 (2001) | [api] | ||
| Júma | Río Açuã, Amazonas (Brazil) | 300 in 1940 and 4 in 1998.Almost extinct | [jua] | ||
| Karipúna | Amapá (Brazil) | Extinction | [kgm] | ||
| Karipuná | Jacaria and Pama (or Pamana) | Rondônia and Acre (Brazil) | 14 (2004).Almost extinct | [kuq] | |
| Paranawát | Rondônia (Brazil) | Extinction | [paf] | ||
| Tenharim | Tenharim, Parisian, kagwahiv, karipuna jaci paraná, mialát, diahói. | Amazonas and Rondônia (Brazil) | 493 -790 (2000) | [pah] | |
| Tukumanféd | Rondônia (Brazil) | Extinction | [tkf] | ||
| Uru-ew-wau-wau | It could be a taharim dialect | Rondônia (Brazil) | 87 (2003) | [urz] | |
| Wiraféd | Rondônia (Brazil) | Extinction | [wir] | ||
| Morerebi | It could be a taharim dialect | Amazonas (Brazil) | 100 (2000) | [xmo] | |
| Subgroup VII | Kamayu | Mato Grosso (Brazil) | 360 (2002) | [kay] | |
| Subgroup VIII | Anambé | Pará (Brazil) | 7 (1991).Almost extinct | [aan] | |
| Amanayé | Pará (Brazil) | Probably extinct | [ama] | ||
| Emerillon | South border of French Guiana | 200 (2000) 400 (2001) | [eme] | ||
| Guajá | Maranhão y Pará (Brazil) | 370 (1995) | [gvj] | ||
| Wayampi | Oiyapoque, wajapuku, oiyapoque wayampi, amapari wayampi, jari. | French Guiana and Brazil | 720 (1997) 1180 (2000) 500-650 (2002) | [oym] | |
| Zo'é | Pará (Brazil) | 150 (1998) 136 (2000) | [pto] | ||
| Turiwára | Pará (Brazil) | Extinction | [twt] | ||
| Urubú-kaapor | Maranhão (Brazil) | 500 (1997) 800 (1998) 500 (2000) | [urb] | ||
| Aurah | Maranhão (Brazil) | Extinction | [aux] | ||
| Pauserna | Pauserna | Southeast of Beni (Bolivia) | Extinction | [psm] | |
| Subgroup | Language | Dialects | Geographical coverage | Estimated number of speakers | ISO/DIS 639-3 |
There are many Tupi-Guarani languages whose phonological and grammatical structure is sufficiently altered with respect to Proto-Tupi-Guarani, to justify the hypothesis that these languages are the result of linguistic substitution in groups that previously spoke other languages. Among these languages resulting from substitution would be Chané, Tapieté, Izoceño and Achí or Guayakí of subgroup 1; Sirionó, Yuqui and Jorá from subgroup 2, and Kokamá / Omáwa from subgroup 3.
Otherwise the classification into subgroups can be done according to certain shared changes:
| Subgroup | * | * | *pj | *kj | *t-(i) | ♪ | ♪ | *β | ♪ | *kw |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | ,, ・ | h, Ø | ,, ・ | k | gw | β | kw | kw | ||
| II | ,, s | ,, s | pj | kj | ,, ・ | j (?) | w | β | kw | kw |
| III | ,, s | ,, s | pj | k | t | , j | (g)w | β | pw | kw |
| IV | h, Ø | h, Ø | k, s | ,,, | z,,, s | w | w | kw | kw | |
| V | Ø | Ø | s | s | s | w | w | kw | ||
| VI | h | h | pj | k | t | j | gw | β | kw | kw |
| VII | h, Ø | h, Ø | k | j | w | w | hw | kw | ||
| VIII | h, Ø | h, Ø | s | k, ・, s | ・, s | j | w | w,(β) | kw | kw |
Common features
Phonology
The reconstructed phonological inventory for Proto-Tupi-Guarani (Proto-TG) is as follows (Jensen, 1989):
| Labial | Alveolar | Alv.-pal. | Velar | Gloss | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fridge | *β | ||||
| Flat occlusive | ♪ | ♪ | ♪ | * | |
| Labialized occlusive | ♪ | *kw | |||
| Palate occlusive | *pj | *kj | |||
| Africada | * | * | |||
| Flat Nasal | ♪ | ♪ | * | ||
| Nasal labialized | ♪ | * | |||
| Nasal palatalized | ♪ | * | |||
| Sonorante | ♪ | * | ♪ |
Most modern languages have simplified this phonological inventory, having lost distinctions. However, thanks to the multitude of surviving languages, it has been possible to reconstruct with great precision not only the original inventory but also the phonological processes of proto-TG.
Lexical comparison
The numerals in different Tupi-Guarani languages are:
| GLOSA | Group I | Group II | Group III | Group IV | Group V | Group VI | Group VII | Group VIII | PROTO- TG | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guaraní | Aché | Guarayu | Siriono | Cocama- Cocamilla | Omagua | Guaja_ Ha! | Tapi_ rap | Kayabí | Júma | Kamayu | Anambé | ||
| '1' | peteĩ | etakrã | Dope | ko-m~~ e-m- | wepe | wipi | pitái | maxepe | ayŭi | o oipeii | Mojepete | tipŭ | ♪ Ojepete ♪ *pe aviation |
| '2' | mokõi | mirõ | ñúnio | Therémo | mukwika | mkwíkia | mokoz | mokõi | mukŭi | mõ mkõ̃{cHFFFF}{cHFFFFFF}{cHFFFFFF}{cHFFFFFF}{cHFFFFFF}{cHFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF}{cHFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF}{cHFFFFFFFF}{cHFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF}{ | mokõi | mukignan | *mo-kõi |
| '3' | Mbohapy | brevi- pʃь | mbo boap bo | 2+hiri | mukaapkarkaka | musap・ka | Nayruz | maaptt | muaptt | mb bharprr | mogulaptt | muapʔ국ʔ | *mo--ap-r |
| '4' | irundy | gw-ra- pʃь | iru pacegatu | 2 + ha | iruaka | ≤1⁄4a | 2+2 | xairõirõ | irupãw transformation | mojo bomber | je irŭ muk | *irunɨ | |
| '5' | po | ipo | - Yeah. | ñande-o | (piritka) | (piritka) | 2+3 | 1 x pa | -po- | jene po | ♪ 'Mano' | ||
| '6' | poteĩ | buatápa | 1+oβa | (sokta) | (sokta) | 3+3 | 3+3 | 5+1 | 5+1 | *5+1 | |||
| '7' | pokõi | jtapéta | 2+oβa | (ka)i) | (kan)is) | 3+3+1 | 5+2 | 5+2 | 5+2 | *5+2 | |||
| '8' | poapy | ・atãpa | 3+oβa | (pusa) | (pusa) | 3+3+2 | 5+3 | 5+3 | 5+3 | *5+3 | |||
| '9' | byundy | tõvá | 4+oβa | (isku) | (iskun) | 3+3+3 | 10-1 | 5+4 | 5+4 | *5+4 | |||
| '10' | pa | etakrã Tapa | ()u pacega) | )u pacega) | 1+naheta | 2 x pa | -po- | ||||||
- The terms between parentheses for coca-cocamilla and omagua are Quechua loans.
Tupi-Guarani place names
Some common roots in place names of Tupi-Guarani origin are:
- for... 'río': Paraná, Paraguay.
- - and or and... 'agua': Iguazú, Ipanema
- ita- 'piedra, rock': Itaipu, Itatí, Itabira, Itaborai, Itamarati, Itatiba, Itatiaia,
- ibi- 'wood, forest'
- Pyra- 'pez'
- Guyra- 'bird'
- - one. 'prieto, nigger'
- - Breathe. or -pitanga 'red'
- -tinga 'blanco'
- - obi. 'blue'
- - Paraguay or -guaçu 'large': Iguazú, Embu-Guaçu. By various phonetic changes (aplology, assimilation) this suffix may appear reduced to - açu Manhuaçu 'lluvia grande', Jaguaraçu ⋅ *Jaguaraguasú 'Jaguar grande'
- -mirim 'small'
- -atã 'duro': Butantã
- - 'good': Botucatu
- - Panema. 'bad': Ipanema
- -bira 'empinado, erect, erguido'
- -sununga "ruid"
- - Soba 'abundant in...': Curitiba, Itatiba.
- - I was. abundance: Araçatuba (Araçá abundant), Caraguatatuba (Caraguatá abundant), Catanduva. +
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