Trans-Tocantins languages
The Trans-Tocantins languages are a proposed subgroup of the Northern Jê languages, which comprises four languages spoken to the west of the Tocantins River: Apinajé, Mẽbêngôkre, Kĩsêdjê, and Tapayúna.[1]:7 It is subdivided in a binary manner into Apinajé, spoken to the east of the Araguaia River, and the Trans-Araguaia subbranch, which includes the remaining three languages. Together with the Timbira dialect continuum, the Trans-Tocantins languages make up the Northern branch of the Jê family.
| Trans-Tocantins | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Tocantins, Pará, Mato Grosso |
| Linguistic classification | Macro-Jê
|
| Subdivisions | |
The defining innovations of the Trans-Tocantins languages include the replacement of Proto-Goyaz Jê and Proto-Northern Jê *a-mbə ‘eat (intransitive)’ (as preserved in Canela/Krahô/Parkatêjê apà, Pykobjê aapỳ, Panará -ânpâ) with Proto-Trans-Tocantins *ap-ku (> Apinajé apku, Mẽbêngôkre aku, Kĩsêdjê/Tapayúna akhu).[2]:274 as well as the fortition of Proto-Northern Jê *j to *ĵ in unstressed syllables (except if preceded by the low vowel *a), as shown below.[1]:234
| Proto-Northern Jê | gloss | Proto-Trans-Tocantins | Apinajé | Mẽbêngôkre | Kĩsêdjê | Tapayúna |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *jujarẽñ | ‘to narrate (nonfinite)’ | *ĵujarẽñ | xujarẽnh | djujarẽnh | tujarẽn | tujarẽj |
| *jəbir | ‘to go up (nonfinite)’ | *ĵəbir | xàpir | djàbiri | tápiri | tàwiri |
References
- Nikulin, Andrey (2020). Proto-Macro-Jê: um estudo reconstrutivo (PDF) (Ph.D. dissertation). Brasília: Universidade de Brasília.
- Nikulin, Andrey; Carvalho, Fernando O. de (2019). "Estudos diacrônicos de línguas indígenas brasileiras: um panorama" (PDF). Macabéa – Revista Eletrônica do Netlli. 8 (2): 255-305. Retrieved 6 August 2020.