Brazil: Language Situation

Language Classification, Language Contact, and Amazonian Prehistory

“…The intervening 10 to 15 years have seen numerous advances in both descriptive and historical studies; yet given the scale of the task, few today would argue with Rodrigues’ observation (2000b: 23) that ‘historical‐comparative studies of Amazonian languages are in a very incipient stage, and will only progress more decidedly when descriptive studies are intensified and cover the great majority of the region's languages.’ 3 The most recent comprehensive surveys of Amazonian languages and their classification may be found in Dixon and Aikhenvald (1999a), Queixalós and Renault‐Lescure (2000); further surveys by country are Rodrigues (2000b, 2006; cf. Rodrigues 1986) and Moore (2006, 2007) for Brazil, Solís Fonseca (2003) for Peru, and Gonzalez de Perez and Rodriguez de Montes (2000) for Colombia.…”

Demographic expansions in South America: Enlightening a complex scenario with genetic and linguistic data

“…The origin and expansion of the Tupi linguistic family are still controversial, but there is a consensus on two major points: (1) a common Amazonian center of origin and (2) the Tupi differentiation occurred through distinct historic and cultural processes; however, they still retained several common features (Noelli, 1998, 2008; Rodrigues, 2000). Glottochronology information suggested that the Tupi origin occurred at the southern margin of the Amazon River mostly close to the Madeira‐Guaporé basin, while archaeological data (based on site location, radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating) point to a region farther north, at the confluence of the Madeira and Amazon rivers (Rodrigues, 1964; Migliazza, 1982; Urban, 1996, 1998; Heckenberger et al, 1998; Noelli, 2008). The morphological results also indicate an Amazonian origin for the Tupi group (Neves et al, 2011).…”

“…Regardless of the uncertainties, the expansion of the Tupi speakers, which occurred about 6,000–2,000 years before present (YBP), has been considered as one of the largest and most successful migration identified at the continental level (Rodrigues, 1964; Migliazza, 1982; Urban, 1996, 1998; Heckenberger et al, 1998; Noelli, 2008). These people were known for manufacturing ceramic utensils and have been described as skilled agriculturalists.…”

“…Linguistic and archaeological data have indicated that the Tupi dispersion was rapid and radial. This particular migration pattern would trigger an interesting phenomenon: languages spoken by geographically distant peoples could be closely related (Migliazza, 1982; Urban, 1996; Rodrigues, 2002). Figure 1 shows the putative routes of the Tupi expansion.…”

Comparing Rural Multilingualism in Lowland South America and Western Africa

“…After their dispersion and near extinction in the late 1940s, the Yawalapiti, together with their affines and with aid from the Villas Boas brothers (leaders of the Roncador-Xingu Expedition), rebuilt a village for them, forming a "mixed" (see Mehinaku 2010) and multilingual group that played an important role in mediating between the Upper Xingu and representatives of the national society (Viveiros de Castro 1977: 10). Despite growth of the original village, Amakapuku (and more recent establishment of three additional villages), the number of Yawalapiti speakers declined steadily, from 28 in the 1950s to five -all over 60 -at the end of 2016 (Moore 2006; Carvalho 2016). Today, Yawalapiti is the least spoken language by the 262 inhabitants of the Yawalapiti villages, composed primarily of in-marrying non-Yawalapiti speakers who use other Xinguan languages, such as Kuikuro, Kamayurá, Kalapalo, and Mehinaku.…”