Kamayurá language

Kamayurá
Native to	Brazil
Region	Upper Xingu region
Ethnicity	Kamayurá people
Native speakers	400 (2011)
Language family	Tupian Tupi–Guaraní Kamayurá
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kay
ELP	Kamayurá

The Kamayurá language (Kamaiurá in Portuguese) belongs to the Tupi–Guarani family, and is spoken by the Kamayurá people of Brazil – who numbered about 290 individuals as of the year 2004.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central		Back
High	i	ɨ		u
Mid	e		o
Low	a

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Rounded
Stop	p	t		k	kʷ	ʔ
Affricate		ts
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Approximant			j		w	h	hʷ
Flap		ɾ

The "glottal approximants" /h/ and /hʷ/ assume the quality of the following vowel.

Sample text

The following sample is taken from Seki (2000), p. 438. It is a small excerpt of a folk take about hero Arawitará, who is summoned by his deceased friend to help the souls of the dead in their eternal war against the birds. Here Arawitará has returned to the world of the living, and his describing his journey to the friend's old mother.

1. jererahame rake ko‘yt a‘ɳa rupi rak orohome ko‘yt
2. jene peuan ikatu a‘ia ko‘ypy
3. jawa‘ipaip ehe‘aɳ jajuw a‘e
4. te a‘ia‘iw a‘iwĩ jene retama ko‘ypy
5. jakatupe tete ne jene retama jaetsa ko‘ypy
6. nite ne jawa‘iawa ko‘ypy
7. kopiaip ehe‘aɳ jaju kwãj‘awan
8. petsakame te jene retama ko‘ywa
9. ipeiripyrera witene
10. ipeiripyrera wite a‘ia‘iwine jeneretama ko‘ypy
11. ojewunewunawa a‘iweru je wi kwãj
12. okoj opiretepewewara ruri we

1. "He [the deceased friend] took me [Araw.]. We went this way.
2. Our straight path(*) is very beautiful
3. Here we live among ugly weeds
4. Ah, how beautiful is our [otherwordly] village!
5. I saw the [otherwordly] village very clean(%),
6. There is not even a single weed there!
7. Here we live as in the path to the orchards($), folks!
8. You should see our [otherwordly] village!
9. It is like one which has been swept
10. it is like one which has been swept a lot, our village
11. The poor [souls] spat on the ground for my being there(#)
12. 'Here comes someone who is still in his original skin.'"

Notes:

(*) "The straight path" (peu-) is the path followed by the souls of the deceased to reach the other world.

(%) Kamayurá villages consist of a ring of houses surrounding a flat central plaza of packed dirt, which is kept clean and swept frequently. The village of the departed souls is impeccable in this regard.

($) The Kamayurá orchards are located at some distance from the village, and the path to them usually goes through the tropical the jungle.

(#) The souls spat on the ground because the nauseating smell of the hero's living flesh made them sick.

Bibliography

Books

• Lucy Seki, Gramática do Kamaiurá, Língua Tupi–Guarani do Alto Xingu. 482 pages + 17 color photo album Editora UNICAMP and São Paulo State Official Press (2000, in Portuguese). ISBN 85-268-0498-7. This is a detailed, comprehensive, and readable description of the Kamayurá grammar, including a lexicon with ~1200 entries.

Papers

• Lucy Seki, Kamaiurá (Tupi–Guarani) as an active–stative language. In D. L. Payne (ed.), Amazonian linguistics: Studies in Lowland South American languages, University of Texas Press (1990).
• Saelzer, Meinke (1976). "Fonologia provisória da língua kamayurá" (PDF). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)