The Nambikwara language (Southern Nambikwara or Kitãulhu, contrasting with Northern Nambikwara or Mamaindé

Mamaindê language

Mamaindê is a Nambikwaran language spoken in the Mato Grosso state of Brazil, in the very north of the indigenous reserve, Terra Indígena Vale do Guaporé, between the Pardo and Cabixi Rivers. In the southern part of the reserve, speakers of Sabanê and Nambikwara are found...

; also spelled Nambikuára, Nhambikwara or Nambiquara) is an indigenous

Indigenous peoples in Brazil

The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...

 language of Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, spoken by about 1200 Nambikwara

Nambikwara

The Nambikwara is an indigenous people of the Brazilan Amazon. Currently ca. 1,200 Nambikwara live in federal reservations in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso along the Guaporé and Juruena rivers...

 people in the Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...

 state. It forms a small Nambikwaran

Nambikwaran languages

The Nambikwaran languages are a language family of half a dozen languages, all spoken in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. They have traditionally been considered dialects of a single language, but at least three of them are mutually unintelligible...

 language family

Language family

A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ancestor, called the proto-language of that family. The term 'family' comes from the tree model of language origination in historical linguistics, which makes use of a metaphor comparing languages to people in a...

, which are often considered dialects of a single language despite not being mutually intelligible. They are a language isolate

Language isolate

A language isolate, in the absolute sense, is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with other languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common with any other language. They are in effect language families consisting of a single...

; Joseph Greenberg

Joseph Greenberg

Joseph Harold Greenberg was a prominent and controversial American linguist, principally known for his work in two areas, linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.- Early life and career :...

 had included in his Gê–Pano–Carib phylum, but this has not been followed by other linguists. Nambikwara is in vigorous use in the Nambikwara communities and in spite of having few speakers the language is not endangered. The name Nambikwara is of Tupi origin.

Most Nambikwara are monolingual but some young men speak Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

.

Phonology

Nambikwara phonology is complex: it distinguishes aspirated, glottalized and plain consonants, and also has two different phonation

Phonation

Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology...

 types of vowels, nasal vowels and three tones

Tone (linguistics)

Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information, and to convey emphasis, contrast, and other such features in what is called...

.

Vowels

Kroeker (2001) distinguishes 19 different vowel sounds for Kitãulhu, based on six vowel qualities:

Oral vowels Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... Close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... i u Mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... ɛ o Open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... a ʌ

Creaky Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... ḭ ṵ ɛ̰ o̰ a̰

Nasal Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... ĩ ũ ɛ̃ ã

Front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... Back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... ḭ̃ ṵ̃ ɛ̰̃ ã̰

Apart from /ʌ/, these have creaky

Creaky voice

In linguistics, creaky voice , is a special kind of phonation in which the arytenoid cartilages in the larynx are drawn together; as a result, the vocal folds are compressed rather tightly, becoming relatively slack and compact...

 counterparts, /ḭ ɛ̰ a̰ o̰ ṵ/, and apart also from /o/, nasal

Nasalization

In phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth...

 and creaky nasal counterparts, /ĩ ɛ̃ ã ũ/, /ḭ̃ ɛ̰̃ ã̰ ṵ̃/.

Lowe (1999), on the other hand, does not recognize /ʌ/. He describes /u/ as varying as [u-ʊ-ɨ-ə] in unstressed syllables, and unstressed /a/ as [ɜ].

Tone

Each syllable is marked for either falling, rising, or level tone; the three tones are marked with superscript numbers: ¹, ² and ³ respectively.

Consonants

In Kroeker's analysis, Southern Nambikwara distinguishes 29 different consonant phonemes. The language contains an additional implosive

Implosive consonant

Implosive consonants are stops with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. That is, the airstream is controlled by moving the glottis downward in addition to expelling air from the lungs. Therefore, unlike the purely glottalic ejective consonants, implosives can...

 alveolar

Alveolar consonant

Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...

 stop [ɗ] which is only used by elderly people and is becoming obsolete.

Consonant inventory per Kroeker (2001)

		Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...	Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...		Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...	Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....		Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
			Central Central consonant A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. The class contrasts with lateral consonants, in which air flows over the sides of the tongue rather than down its center....	Lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....		Plain	Labialized Labialisation Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common...
Plosives Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...	Plain	p [p]	t [t]			k [k]	kw [kʷ]	x [ʔ]
	Aspirated Aspiration (phonetics) In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of air that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. To feel or see the difference between aspirated and unaspirated sounds, one can put a hand or a lit candle in front of one's mouth, and say pin ...	ph [pʰ]	th [tʰ]			kh [kʰ]	kwh [kʷʰ]
	Glottalized		tx [tʔ]			kx [kʔ]
Affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :...	Plain				j [tʃ]
Fricatives	Plain	f [ɸ]	s [s]					h [h]
	Glottalized	fx [ɸʔ]	sx [sʔ]					hx [hʔ]
Sonorant Sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and... s	Plain	m [m]	n [n]	l [l]	y [j]		w [w]
	Aspirated						wh [ʍʰ]
	Glottalized	mx [ʔm]	nx [ʔn]	lx [ʔl]	yx [ʔj]		wx [ʔw]

Lowe (1999), however, analyzes many of these are sequences

Consonant cluster

In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word splits....

. For example, analyzing the aspirates as stop + /h/ simplifies the morphophonemic

Morphophonology

Morphophonology is a branch of linguistics which studies, in general, the interaction between morphological and phonetic processes. When a morpheme is attached to a word, it can alter the phonetic environments of other morphemes in that word. Morphophonemics attempts to describe this process...

 description of the language.

Consonant inventory per Lowe (1999)

	Bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:...	Alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth...		Palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...	Velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum)....	Glottal Glottal consonant Glottal consonants, also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider...
		Central Central consonant A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue. The class contrasts with lateral consonants, in which air flows over the sides of the tongue rather than down its center....	Lateral Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth....
Plosives Stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or an oral stop, is a stop consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be done with the tongue , lips , and &...	p [p]	t [t]			k [k]	x [ʔ]
Fricatives	(f [ɸ])	s [s]
Sonorant Sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; fricatives and plosives are not sonorants. Vowels are sonorants, as are consonants like and . Other consonants, like or , restrict the airflow enough to cause turbulence, and... s	(m [m])	n [n]	l [l]	y [j]	w [w]	h [h]

(f) and (m) are in parentheses as they only occur in loanword

Loanword

A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...

s.

Lowe describes aspiration on the voiceless stops p, t, k, and on n, l, but not on w. Because he breaks up Kroeker's complex consonants into clusters, he posits a more complex syllable structure, with up to four initial consonants and up to a single coda consonant, which can only be t, k, x, h, n. The initial clusters can consist of any consonant at onset, but subsequent slots can only be w, h, x. A maximal CCCCVC syllable is seen in kwhxax³kax³li³su² (sp. deer).

Allophones

The plosives p, t, k are freely voiced in all positions: [p~b], [t~d], [k~ɡ]. A syllable-final n within a word when preceded by a nasal vowel assimilates to the following consonant as [m], [n], [ŋ], and when preceded by an oral vowel it is also prestopped ([ᵇm], [ᵈn], [ᶢŋ]). L is a lateral [l] before the back vowels [o], [u], and a flap [ɾ] before the non-back vowels [i], [e], [a].

Grammar

The grammar of Nambikwara is polysynthetic

Polysynthetic language

In linguistic typology, polysynthetic languages are highly synthetic languages, i.e., languages in which words are composed of many morphemes. Whereas isolating languages have a low morpheme-to-word ratio, polysynthetic languages have extremely high morpheme-to-word ratios.Not all languages can be...

 and mostly suffix

Suffix

In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...

ing. It uses active–stative alignment

Morphosyntactic alignment

In linguistics, morphosyntactic alignment is the system used to distinguish between the arguments of transitive verbs and those of intransitive verbs...

. Its basic word order

Word order

In linguistics, word order typology refers to the study of the order of the syntactic constituents of a language, and how different languages can employ different orders. Correlations between orders found in different syntactic subdomains are also of interest...

 is SOV. It has four word classes: verb

Verb

A verb, from the Latin verbum meaning word, is a word that in syntax conveys an action , or a state of being . In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive...

s, noun

Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...

s, adverb

Adverb

An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....

s and interrogative pronouns. Nambikwara has a complex system for expressing evidentiality

Evidentiality

In linguistics, evidentiality is, broadly, the indication of the nature of evidence for a given statement; that is, whether evidence exists for the statement and/or what kind of evidence exists. An evidential is the particular grammatical element that indicates evidentiality...

.

Sample text

Ha³txa² khon³kxi³jau³xa²

Ha³txa² kox³khaix¹toh³na²hẽ³ra². Nx³ha²kxai³, yã¹ti³na²hẽ³ra².

—Yxo²hxa³ti³li³a¹tũ¹xã¹, na¹tãu³ã¹, txa²se³kxa³lxa² ã³nũ¹xa³kxi²sa³na²hẽ³ra². Ha³txa² tĩn³ka³khai¹xai²la¹wa², nxe³ha²kxai³, yã¹ti³na²hẽ³ra². Nxe³ha²kxai³, ju³txa² yah³lo²nã³xa² ai³ka³tai²la¹wa². Nxe³ha²kxai³, yã¹ti³na²hẽ³ra². Ju³txa² tau³ka² sa²tã³nhxa³ti³na¹hẽ³ra², sũn²ta³ti³hĩ¹nai³ta²sa². Ka³ja³la² o²lha²ha²kxai³ yuh³lxi³jau³kxai³la¹ i³sxã³ tĩ³hẽ¹ra². Nai¹na¹ta¹, ya³lo³jãx¹na¹ka³tu³, Ro³ber²jah³la² tau³ka² sa²tã³nhxa³ja³ha¹hẽ¹ra². Nxe³ha²kxai³, hĩ¹na² tẽ¹ha² xai³la¹ju³txa² wi¹khai¹xn²na³ra². Nxe³ha²kxai³ kãi²ka³li³khaix¹sa³nha²wa².

Translation (in Portuguese):

Fazendo uma ponte

A ponte estava muito ruim, por isso eu me apressei. Minha esposa caiu na água enquanto estava atravessando. O pau da ponte era muito velho. As pessoas velhas sempre andaram neste lugar e por isso eu me apressei. Derrubei uma árvore ontem à tarde. Os civilizados estavam com medo e saíram, mas o Roberto me ajudou. Agora passar por lá é muito bom. Por isso estou muito alegre.

Rough English translation:

Building a bridge

The bridge was very bad, so I hurried up. My wife fell in the water while she was passing through. The planks of the bridge were too old. The old people always walked here place and so I hurried up. I felled a tree yesterday afternoon. The civilized ones were afraid and left, Roberto helped me. Now going that way is very good. So I am very happy.