Ofayé language

The Ofayé or Opaye language, also Ofaié-Xavante, Opaié-Shavante, forms its own branch of the Macro-Jê languages. It is spoken by only a couple of the small Ofayé people, though language revitalization efforts are underway. Grammatical descriptions have been made by the Pankararú linguist Maria das Dores de Oliveira (Pankararu),[3] as well as by Sarah C. Gudschinsky[4] and Jennifer E. da Silva, from the Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul.

Ofayé
Native toBrazil
RegionMato Grosso do Sul
Ethnicity60 Ofayé people (2006)[1]
Native speakers
2 (2005)[1]
Macro-Jê
  • Ofayé
Language codes
ISO 639-3opy
Glottologofay1240
ELPOfayé[2]

It was spoken on the Ivinhema River, Pardo River, and Nhandú River in Mato Grosso do Sul. Guachi, spoken on the Vacaria River in Mato Grosso do Sul, is a dialect.[5]

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru languages due to contact.[6]

Phonology

The consonantal inventory of Ofayé is as follows.[3]:40

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar/palatal Velar Labio-velar Glottal
Stop voiceless t tʃ k kʷ ʔ
voiced d dʒ g
Fricative ɸ ʃ h
Nasal n
Oral sonorant ɾ j w

The vowel inventory of Ofayé is as follows.[3]:42

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ĩ
Close-mid e ẽ ə o õ
Open-mid ɛ
Open a ã

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.[5]

glossOpaie
oneenex-há
twoyakwári
tonguechü-õrá
footchü-gareyé
firemitáu
treekomekatá
jaguarwoki
houseshüa
whiteõká

References
  1. Ofayé at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Endangered Languages Project data for Ofayé.
  3. Oliveira, Maria das Dores de (2006). Ofayé, a língua do povo do mel: fonologia e gramática (Ph.D. dissertation). Maceió: Universidade Federal de Alagoas.
  4. Gudschinsky, Sarah C. (1974). "Fragmentos de Ofaié: a descrição de uma língua extinta". Série Lingüística. 3: 177–249.
  5. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  6. Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.
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