Pankararú language

Pankararú
Pankararé
Native to	Brazil
Region	Pernambuco, Alagoas
Extinct	ca. early 20th century
Language family	unclassified
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: paz – Pankararú pax – Pankararé

Pankararú (Pancaré, Pankaré, Pancaru, Pankaruru, Pankarará, Pankaravu, Pankaroru, Pankarú, Brancararu) is an extinct language of eastern Brazil. There are 6,000 ethnic Pankararú, but they all speak Portuguese. In 1961, only two elders could remember anything of the language.

In the 19th century the people split into two ethnic groups, the Pankararú and the Pankararé. One quarter of the Parkararé retain their traditional religion.

Classification

Pankararú has no proven relatives and remains unclassified. There are similarities with Tukano and Tupian. Meader (1976) found that of 80 known lexical items, one third (26) are clearly cognate with Tupian languages. He speculates that the last speakers of Pankararú may therefore have been bilingual in Tupi. The identity of the rest of the vocabulary has not been identified, and Pankararú may be a language isolate.

References

• Lewis, M. Paul (2009): Pankararú: an extinct language of Brazil
• Fabre, Alain (2005): Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos: PANKARARU / PANKARARÉ
• Meader, Robert E. (1976): Índios do Nordeste: Levantamento sobre os Remanescentes Tribais do Nordeste Brasileiro