The Rikbaktsa language, also spelled ''Aripaktsa, Erikbatsa, Erikpatsa'' and known ambiguously as ''Canoeiro'', is a language spoken by the
Rikbaktsa people
The Rikbaktsa are an indigenous ethnic group from the Mato Grosso region of Brazil.
Name
''Rikbaktsa'' (Rikbaktsa ''rik'', person + ''bak'', human being + ''tsa'' lural suffix, the group's self-denomination, can be translated as "the human be ...
of
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP.
Neighborin ...
, Brazil, that forms its own branch of the
Macro-Gê languages.
As in other languages of the area, word endings indicate the gender of the speaker.
[Arruda, Rinaldo S.V]
"Rikbaktsa: Language."
In '' Encyclopedia of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil''. Instituto Socioambiental (November 1998). Rikbaktsa is a
subject-object-verb language.
[
Most Rikbaktsa can speak both Rikbaktsa and Portuguese. Younger individuals tend to speak Portuguese more frequently and fluently than their elders, but older individuals generally struggle with Portuguese and use it only with non-indigenous Brazilians.][
Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with the ]Cariban languages
The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pock ...
.
Locations
The 22nd edition of Ethnologue reports that it is spoken around confluence of the Sangue River and Juruena River in:
*Japuira on the east bank of the Juruena River, between the Arinos River and Sangue River
*Posto Escondido on the west bank of the Juruena River (9 villages, 14 settlements)
Phonology
* /i, u/ can be heard as �, ʊwhen in syllable-final position.
* /e, o/ can be heard as �, ɔwhen in unstressed syllables.
* /a/ is heard as �in final unstressed syllables, as �when following /tʃ/ heard as ʃʲ and as �when occurring after the sequence /ku/.
* A glottal stop �can also be heard in initial and final position when before and after vowels.
* /d/ can be palatalized as ʲwhen before /i/.
* /t͡ʃ/ can be palatalized as ͡ʃʲwhen in front of /a/.
* /p, k/ can be heard as aspirated Ê°, kÊ°when before an accented syllable.
* /k/ can be heard as voiced �when before voiced consonants.
* /w/ can be heard as �when in stressed syllable before front vowels.
* Sounds /ɾ, w, h/ can be heard as nasal �̃, w̃, h̃when in nasal vowel positions.
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items.
References
{{South American languages
Nuclear Macro-Jê languages
Languages of Brazil
Indigenous languages of South America (Central)
Rikbaktsa
Subject–object–verb languages
Endangered indigenous languages of the Americas
Mamoré–Guaporé linguistic area