Macro-Gê languages
Encyclopedia
Macro-Jê is a medium-sized language stock in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 centered around the Jê language family, with all other branches currently being single languages due to recent extinctions. The family was first proposed in 1926, and has undergone moderate modifications since then. Kaufman (1990) finds the proposal "probable".
  • (16 languages in three branches: Kaingáng
    Kaingang
    The Kaingang people are a Native American ethnic group spread out over the four southern Brazilian states of São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. They are also called Caingang and Aweikoma, though some sources list Kaingang and Aweikoma as separate groups...

     [18,000 speakers of four languages], and northern and southern Jê languages such as Xavánte
    Xavante
    The Xavante are an indigenous people, comprising some 9,600 individuals within the territory of eastern Mato Grosso state in Brazil...

     [8000 speakers])
  • Krenák
    Krenak languages
    The Krenak languages are a pair of Macro-Jê languages, moribund Krenak and extinct Guerén. Nowadays the Krenak population is 350.-References:...

    (Botocudo)
  • Borôro
  • Kamakã
    Kamakã languages
    The Kamakã languages are a small family of extinct Macro-Jê languages of Bahía near Brazil's Atlantic coast. The attested Kamakã languages are Kamakã, Mongoyó, Menién, Kotoxó, and Masakará.-References:...

    [extinct]
  • Karajá
  • Karirí
    Kariri languages
    The Karirí languages, generally considered dialects of a single language, are extinct languages spoken until the middle of the 20th century; the 4,000 ethnic Karirí are now monolingual Portuguese speakers, though a few know common phrases and names of medicinal plants.The four known Kariri...

    [extinct]
  • Maxakalían
    Maxakalían languages
    The Maxakalían languages were first classified into the Gê languages. It was only in 1931 that Loukotka separated them from the Gê family. Alfred Métraux and Curt Nimuendaju Unkel considered the Maxakalían family isolated from others...

  • Ofayé
    Ofayé language
    The Ofayé or Opaye language, also Ofaié-Xavante, Opaié-Shavante, forms its own branch of the Macro-Gê languages. It is spoken by about a quarter of the small Ofayé people, though language revitalization efforts are underway....

  • Purían
    Purian languages
    Purian is a pair of extinct languages of eastern Brazil:Coropó was spoken in Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. Purí was spoken in Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais.Purian is part of the Macro-Jê proposal.-Bibliography:...

    [extinct]
  • Rikbaktsá
    Rikbaktsa language
    The Rikbaktsa language, also spelled Aripaktsa, Erikbatsa, Erikpatsa and known ambiguously as Canoeiro, is a language spoken by the Rikbaktsa people of the Mato Grosso, Brazil, that forms its own branch of the Macro-Gê languages....

  • Yabutian
    Yabutian languages
    The Yabutian or Jabutian languages are two similar moribund languages of Brazil. They are members of the Macro-Je language family.-References:*Ribeiro, Eduardo & Hein van der Voort. 2008...

    [moribund]


Eduardo Ribeiro of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 finds no evidence to classify Fulniô
Fulniô language
Fulniô, or Yatê, is a language isolate of Brazil, and the only indigenous language remaining in the northeastern part of that country. The two dialects, Fulniô and Yatê, are very close...

 (Yatê) and Guató
Guató language
The Guató language, or , is a possible language isolate spoken by the about 10% Guató people of Brazil. Kaufman provisionally classifies it as a branch of the Macro-Gê languages, but no evidence for this was found by Eduardo Ribeiro.-Phonology:...

 as Macro-Je, pace Kaufman, nor Otí
Oti language
The Oti language, also known as Chavante or Euchavante, is an extinct language isolate once spoken by the Oti people near São Paulo, Brazil....

 and Chiquitano, pace Greenberg.

These languages share irregular morphology with the Tupi and Carib families, and Rodrigues (2000) and Ribeiro connect them all as a Je–Tupi–Carib family.
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