Kaiwá language
Kaiwá is a Guarani language spoken by about 18,000 Kaiwá people in Brazil in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and 510 people in northeastern Argentina. Literacy is 5-10% in Kaiwá and 15–25% in Portuguese. Kaiwá proper is 70% lexically similar with the Pai Tavytera language, and its similarity to its linguistic cousin Guaraní, one of the two national-languages of Paraguay alongside the Spanish language, means it is even sometimes considered mutually intelligible.[1]
| Kaiwá | |
|---|---|
| Kayova | |
| Native to | Argentina, Brazil |
| Ethnicity | Kaiwá |
Native speakers | 18,000 (2003)[1] |
Tupian
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | kgk |
| Glottolog | kaiw1246 |
| ELP | Kaiwá[2] |
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ĩ | ɨ ɨ̃ | u ũ |
| Close-mid | e ẽ | o õ | |
| Open | a ã |
- /e/ can also be heard as [ɛ].
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | ||||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | k | ʔ | ||
| voiced | ɡ | ɡʷ | |||||
| prenasal | ᵐb ~ m | ⁿd ~ n | ᶮdʲ ~ ɲ | ||||
| Fricative | v | s | ʃ | h | |||
| Rhotic | ɾ | ||||||
| Approximant | (j) | (w) | |||||
- Prenasalized stops can also be heard as nasal sonorants.
- [w] is heard as an allophone of /v/ or /u/.
- [j] is heard as an allophone of /i/.[3]
Sample text
Eregwata-ramo ka'agwy-rupi erehexa gwa'a. Hagwe pytã porã. Oveve áry-rupi gwa'a. Oveve-ramo, "Kaa! Kaa!" he'i. Heta oĩ gwa'a ka'agwy-rupi.[4]
Portuguese translation:[4]
Quando você passeia no mato, você vê a arara. A plumagem dela é dum vermelho bonito. A arara voa no céu. Quando voa, grita "Kaa! Kaa!" Há muitas araras no mato.
Rough English translation:
When you walk in the bush, you see the macaw. The plumage is a beautiful red. The macaw flies in the sky. When it flies, it shouts "Kaa! Kaa!" There are many macaws in the bush.
Notes
- Kaiwá at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Endangered Languages Project data for Kaiwá.
- Bridgeman, Loraine I. (1961). Kaiwa (Guarani) Phonology. International Journal of American Linguistics Vol. 27, No. 4: The University of Chicago Press.CS1 maint: location (link)
- Te'ýi nhe'ẽ. 5 Cartilha Kaiwá, pg 2.
Bibliography
- Summer Institute of Linguistics (1980) Te'ýi nhe'ẽ. 5 Cartilha Kaiwá, SIL, Brasilia, DF.