The Kaingang language (also spelled Kaingáng) is a Southern Jê language spoken by the

Kaingang The Kaingang people are an Indigenous peoples in Brazil, Indigenous Brazilian ethnic group spread out over the three southern Brazilian states of Paraná (state), Paraná, Santa Catarina (state), Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul and the sout ...

people of southern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The Kaingang nation has about 30,000 people, and about 60–65% speak the language. Most also speak Portuguese.

Overview

The Kaingang language is a member of the Jê family, the largest language family in the Macro-Jê stock. The Kaingang territory occupies the modern states of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Paraná, Santa Catarina and

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

(and, until the beginning of the 20th century, Misiones, Argentina). Today they live in around 30 indigenous lands (similar to

Native American reservations An American Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose government is autonomous, subject to regulations passed by the United States Congress and admini ...

), especially in Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná. In the 1960s, due to a missionary interest conducted by the

Summer Institute of Linguistics SIL Global (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics International) is an evangelical Christian nonprofit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, to expan ...

(SIL), the language was studied by Ursula Wiesemann.

Names

The Kaingang and Xokleng were previously considered a single ethnicity, which went by a number of names, including ''Amhó, Dorin, Gualachi, Chiqui, Ingain, Botocudo, Ivitorocái (= Amho), Kamé, Kayurukré, Tain (= Ingain), Taven.'' Some of these may have been tribal names; others were exonyms. Those living along the coast at the time of the Conquest were called ''Guayaná'', and are considered to be the ancestors of the Kaingang.''Enciclopédia dos Povos Indígenas no Brasil - Instituto Socioambiental'' It is unknown to what extent the names might have corresponded to dialectal differences.

Dialects

Loukotka (1968)

Loukotka (1968) lists the following dialects of Kaingán and related language varieties. *Kaingán / Caingang / Camé / Taven / Kaingygn / Coroado / Kadyrukré **Central - spoken between the

Ivaí River The Ivaí River (Portuguese language, Portuguese, Rio Ivaí) is a river of Paraná (state), Paraná state in southern Brazil. It is a tributary of the Paraná River. Its official spelling is Ivaí, with variants including Ivahy and Ival. The rive ...

and Tiquié River, Paraná State **Southern or Iñacoré - spoken in the state of

, now in the villages surrounding the cities of Nonohag and Cáceres. **Northern - once spoken on the Tiete River **Eastern / Nhakfáteitei / Yakwändatéye / Guayana de Paranapamena - formerly spoken in the state of São Paulo on the

Paranapanema River The Paranapanema River (Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Rio Paranapanema'') is one of the most important rivers of the interior of the Brazilian state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. The river forms most of the boundary between the states of ...

*Binaré - once spoken on the left shore of the

Uruguay River The Uruguay River ( ; ) is a major river in South America. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La Mesopotamia from the other two countr ...

in the state of

*Xiqui - extinct language from Mato Grosso State, once spoken on the

São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large Rivers of Brazil, river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon R ...

and Piquirí River *Aweicoma / Bugres / Owaikománg / Xocren - spoken in Santa Catarina State in the hinterland of the cities of

Itajaí Itajaí () is a municipality in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is located on the northern central coast of Santa Catarina and is part of the Vale do Itajaí Mesoregion, on the right bank of the Itajaí-Açu river mouth. It lies at th ...

, Palmas, and

Blumenau Blumenau () is a city in Vale do Itajaí, Santa Catarina (Brazil), Santa Catarina state, in the South Region, Brazil, South Region of Brazil, from the state capital Florianópolis. The city was founded by the German chemist and pharmacist H ...

Mason (1950)

Mason (1950) lists the following classification for the Caingang group of languages: *Caingang **

(Coroado); Nyacfateitei ** Paraná **

* Shocleng *Taven **Tain ** Ingain (Wayana, Guayaná) ***Patte (Basa) ***Chowa ***Chowaca **Ivitorocai **Gualacho (Coronado) ***Gualachí ***Chiki ***Cabelludo *Dorin **(bands: Jahuateie, Venharo) **(moieties: Cayurucré, Votoro, Camó) Mason (1950) also lists the

Yabutian languages The Yabutian or Jabutian languages are two similar moribund languages of southern Rondônia, Brazil, namely Arikapú language, Arikapú (Maxubí) and Djeoromitxi language, Djeoromitxi (Yabutí/Jabotí). They are members of the Macro-Je language ...

Aricapú and Yabuti as "possibly Caingang."

Phonology

Consonants

A large number of allophones map to a set of 14 phonemes:Jolkesky, M. P. V. (2009)
Fonologia e prosódia do Kaingáng falado em Cacique Doble
(RS). Anais do XIV SETA - Seminário de Teses em Andamento, 3:675-685. Campinas: Editora do IEL-UNICAMP.
(anexo)
/ref> All consonants have varying

allophone In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plos ...

s depending on their position in the word and on the adjacency of nasal vowels: * The

oral The word oral may refer to: Relating to the mouth * Relating to the mouth, the first portion of the alimentary canal that primarily receives food and liquid **Oral administration of medicines ** Oral examination (also known as an oral exam or ora ...

stops have prenasalized allophones when following a nasal vowel. In unstressed syllables, is furthermore voiced to become . * The

glottal stop The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...

and the non-stop consonants are realized as nasalized preceding nasal vowels. * The phonemes are only realized as voiced oral stops between two oral vowels. They are realized as voiced prenasalized stops when between a nasal and an oral vowel, as well as word-initially before oral vowels. Between an oral and a nasal vowel they are conversely realized as prestopped . Between two nasal vowels, or word-initially before nasal vowels, they are realized as full nasal stops: . The first two types of realization also apply when occurring in the syllable coda and followed by a non-nasal segment; these voiced/prenasalized will however be additionally unreleased: . However, by convention these stop-phonemes are always written as in the orthography. * When preceded by an oral vowel, the sequences can be realized as geminate stops: . * is optionally labialized: , etc. * The non-glottal fricatives can word-initially be optionally realized as affricates (including their nasal allophones: .) * can optionally be realized as a voiced bilabial fricative , and as a voiced palatal stop . When nasalized, varies between and . * Word-initially, is preceded by an epenthetic ; it is in tonic syllables and in atonic syllables, and when nasalized, it varies between and . As a syllable coda it is a flap when oral and approximant when nasal, and may optionally be palatalized: . * Word-initially in a stressed syllable, may vary in realization between dental and alveolar . Following palatal consonants or preceding a close vowel, it can also realized as a palatal stop, .

Vowels

* Atonic and as well as and are merged; the former pair to , the latter pair to . * The backness of the unrounded back vowels varies between back and central . * All of the oral vowels can be realized as voiceless . * Nasal vowels have the same quality as oral vowels. However, doesn't list a central variant of on his phone chart.

Orthography

Wiesemann proposed an alphabet for the language, which is still in use despite some problems. It is based on the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

, and consists of fourteen consonants and fourteen vowels, matching the fourteen consonants and fourteen vowels of the Kaingang language. There are dictionaries and grammars available for Kaingang. A school was set up in 1969 to teach the Kaingang people to read and write their language. However, the school produced many Kaingang speakers who went back to their reservations to teach others and spread the writing innovations they learned. Only one of the dialects is used as the standard written form, though having the writing system provided a source of pride in the language for the Kaingang people. A Kaingang bible has been published, as well as a dictionary and other publications. Examples of Kaingang writing can be found o
Omniglot

Grammar

Postpositions

Kaingang makes use of

postpositions Adpositions are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (''in, under, towards, behind, ago'', etc.) or mark various semantic roles (''of, for''). The most common adpositions are prepositions (which precede their complemen ...

. * goj: water * goj ki: in the water Postpositions are also used to mark subject. * Mĩg vỹ venhvó tĩ. The jaguar runs. * Kofá tóg pỹn tãnh. The old man killed the snake.

Verbs

Kaingang verbs do not inflect. * rãgró: to plant * Ti tóg rãgró krãn huri. He planted beans. * Ẽg tóg rãgró krãn huri. We planted beans.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Kaingán language varieties.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Catálogo de Línguas Sul-Americanas: Kaingáng

Portal Kaingang

Kaingang phonology and Macro-Ge languages

Comparison of English and Kaingang phrases
* Jolkesky, M. P. V. (2006a)
Língua, lexicografia e os SILogismos em Kaingang - Português Dicionário Bilingüe.
(manuscrito) * Jolkesky, M. P. V. (2006b)
Análise semiótica de um texto Kaingáng.
(manuscrito) * Jolkesky, M. P. V.; Santos, L. C. (2008)
Construções relativas restritivas em Kaingáng.
Em: S. Telles & A. S. de Paula (orgs.) Topicalizando Macro-Jê, 247-260. Recife: NECTAR.
Kaingáng
(

Intercontinental Dictionary Series The Intercontinental Dictionary Series (commonly abbreviated as IDS) is a large database of topical vocabulary lists in various world languages. The general editor of the database is Bernard Comrie of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary An ...

) {{Macro-Jê languages Analytic languages Indigenous languages of the Americas Isolating languages Jê languages Languages of Brazil