Kayapo language
| Kayapó | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Brazil |
| Region | Mato Grosso |
| Ethnicity | Kayapo |
Native speakers | 8,638 (2010)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | txu |
| Glottolog | kaya1330 |
| ELP | Mebengokre |
Kayapó is a Jê language of Brazil. The majority are monolingual, and most who are bilingual speak other indigenous languages; perhaps 1% speak Portuguese.
Phonetics and phonology
Kayapó has a total of 33 phonemes: 16 consonants and 17 vowels, which are divided as 10 oral vowels and 7 nasal vowels.[2] Kayapó is the only Jê language to have a series of oral stops.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voiceless stop | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | ʔ |
| Voiced stop | b | d | d͡ʒ | g | |
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Liquid | w | ɾ | j |
Vowels
| Oral | Nasal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | ɯ | u | ĩ | ɯ̃ | ũ | |||
| e | ɤ | o | ẽ | õ | ||||
| ɛ | ʌ | ɔ | ʌ̃ | |||||
| a | ã | |||||||
References
- ^ Kayapó at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Salanova, A. P. (2001). A nasalidade em Mebengokre e Apinayé: o limite do vozeamento soante. Master's thesis, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas.
See also