Tarairiú (Caratiú) is an language of eastern Brazil. The Tarairiú Nation was divided into several etnies: the Janduí, Kanindé, Payakú (Pajoke, Pajacú, Bajacú), Jenipapo, Jenipapo-Kanindé, Javó, Kamaçu, Takarijú, Ariús, Pêgas, Caratiús, Coremas, Panatís, Paratiós, Piancós, Xukurú among others.

Tarairiú
Otschukayana
Native toBrazil
RegionRio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Ceará, Piauí, Alagoas, Pernambuco
RevivalIn recovery in the Tapuya Tarairiú Village of Lagoa do Tapará in the municipality of São Gonçalo do Amarante (Rio Grande do Norte)
Tarairiú Family
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottologtara1303  Tarairiú
jeni1237  Jenipapo-Kaninde

It was once spoken between the Assú River and Apodi River in Rio Grande do Norte.[1]

Varieties

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Below is a list of extinct Tarairiú language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.[1]

  • Xoró - once spoken on the Apodi River, state of Rio Grande do Norte.
  • Janduí - once spoken between the Apodi River and Açú River, Rio Grande do Norte.
  • Payakú - once spoken in Rio Grande do Norte in the Serra do Coité, Serra de São Bento and Serra Calabouço between the Jaguaribe River and Apodi River.
  • Panatí - once spoken in the state of Paraíba in the Serra Panatí and near Villaflor.
  • Miñari - once spoken in the valley of the Apodi River, Rio Grande do Norte.
  • Panahi - language of the neighbors of the Miñari tribe, Rio Grande do Norte.
  • Canindé - once spoken at the sources of the Choró River, state of Ceará.
  • Genipapo - Portuguese name of an extinct language on the Choró River.
  • Camamu - once spoken on the Acaraú River, Ceará.
  • Itañá / Baturité - once spoken in the Serra de Baturité, Ceará.
  • Candodú - language of a neighboring tribe of the Jucá, Quixetó and Caratiú.
  • Caratiú - once spoken at the sources of the Poti River and in the valley of the Triá River, Ceará.
  • Camasú - once spoken in Ceará state at the sources of the Acaratí-guasú River
  • Acriú - once spoken on the left bank of the Acaraná River, Ceará.
  • Anasé - spoken in Ceará, on the right bank of the Acaraú River.

Classification

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The language is attested only through a few word lists. A few words resemble those of neighboring Kariri (and other Macro-Je) and Xukuru languages, but not enough to support a genealogical connection. Kaufman (1994) reports that "not even Greenberg dares classify this language".

Vocabulary

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Some of the recorded words:

Gloss Tarairiú[2]
'water' teu
'fire' kiro-kia, intoá
'stone' kebra
'head' kreká
'hair' unj
'ear' bandulak
'eye' pigó
'nose' korõza
'mouth' moz
'tooth' cidolé
'hand' koreké
'foot' poyá
'man' xenupre
'woman' moela, moéça
'son' ako
'house' sok
'eat' kringó
'sleep' gonyã

Resemblances with Macro-Jê languages are in kebra 'stone' (Proto-Je *kɛn), kreká 'head' (*krã), koreké 'hand' (*-ĩkra), and poyá 'foot' (*par). Resemblances with Xukuru are kiro- 'fire' (Xukuru kiyo), kringó 'eat' (kringgo 'feed'), sok 'house' (šekh).

Loukotka (1968) gives three words in Tarairiú:[1]

  • agh 'sun'
  • kén 'stone'
  • ake 'tobacco'

For a more extensive vocabulary list of Tarairiú by de Souza (2009),[3] see the corresponding Portuguese article.

Lexical comparison

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An alternative list of Tarairiú words compared with "" dialects and Cariri, compiled by the Paraíba historian José Elias Barbosa Borges, is given in Medeiros (1999):[4]

Portuguese gloss
(original)
English gloss
(translated)
Tarairiú dialects Cariri
água water kaité nko dzu
cabeça head kreká krã tçambu
cabelo hair unj sun
casa house sekri ikré crá
comer eat kringó khrem ami
dormir sleep gon-yá nogon uni
filho son ako ikra inhurae
fogo fire kiró, kia korru, kuwi isu
mão hand koreke bkhra müsã
mulher woman krippó mprom, piko tidzi
nariz nose sikrin khra naembi
olho eye aço nto do
orelha ear bandulak mpak benhé
foot poiá par

References

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  1. ^ a b c Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  2. ^ J. de Souza Santos, 2009, p. 735-739
  3. ^ de Souza Santos, Juvandi. 2009. Cariri e Tarairiú?: culturas tapuais nos sertões da Paraíba. Doutorado em História. Porto Alegre: Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul.
  4. ^ Medeiros Filho, Olavo de. 1999. Os Tarairiús, extintos tapuias do Nordeste. In: Almeida, Luiz Sávio de; Galindo, Marcos; Silva, Edson. Índios do Nordeste: temas e problemas, p. 241-57. Maceió: EDUFAL. (PDF)