Nheengatu language

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Nheengatu
Modern Tupi, ñe'engatú
Spoken in	Brazil  Colombia  Venezuela
Native speakers	3,000 in Brazil (1998), 3,000 in Colombia (no date), 2,000 in Venezuela  (1987)
Language family	Tupian Tupi–Guarani Tupi languages Tupi Nheengatu
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	São Gabriel da Cachoeira (Brazil)
Regulated by	No official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-3	yrl
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The Nheengatu language ([ɲɛʔẽŋaˈtu] in original Tupi pronunciation), often spelled Nhengatu, is an Amerindian language of a Tupi–Guarani family. It is also known by the Portuguese names língua geral da Amazônia and língua geral amazônica, both meaning "Amazonian General Language," or even by the Latin lingua brasilica (Brazilian Language). Nheengatu originated in northern Brazil in the 17th century as a lingua franca. Now known as nheengatu (also nhengatu, nyengatú, língua geral, geral, yeral), it is still spoken along the Rio Negro in northern Brazil (as well as in neighboring Colombia and Venezuela).

Current status

There are perhaps around 8,000 Nheengatu speakers according to The Ethnologue (2005) (Rohter (2005) gives a much larger number); the language has recently regained some recognition and prominence after having been suppressed for many years. It is spoken in the Upper Rio Negro region of Amazonas state, in the Brazilian Amazon, and in neighboring portions of Colombia and Venezuela. It is the native language of the area's rural population, and it is also used as a common language of communication between Indians and non-Indians, and between Indians from different tribes. Its use is also a way for some of the native peoples who have lost their original languages to affirm their ethnic identity, as in the case of the Barés, the Arapaços, and others. In 2003, it gained the status of official language alongside Portuguese in São Gabriel da Cachoeira.

History

Nheengatu was based on tupinambá, the language of the Tupi along the northern Brazilian coast in Maranhão and Pará. It was standardized by Jesuits from the vocabulary and pronunciation of the tupinambá dialect, which were adapted into a grammatical framework based on Portuguese. At its height in the 18th century, it was the dominant spoken language throughout Brazil's vast territory, alongside its closely related southern counterpart, the língua geral paulista, as it was used not only by Indians and missionaries but also as an everyday language by settlers of European ancestry. Nheengatu was carried into the interior and spread across the Amazon region in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its use later declined, partially as a result of the imposition of the Portuguese language by the Marquis of Pombal (1758) and of the expulsion of the Jesuits from Brazil (1759), as well as because of immigration from Portugal.

Aside from the aforementioned língua geral paulista, now extinct, Nheengatu is also closely related to Paraguayan Guarani, which far from being extinct is the most widely spoken language in that country and one of its official languages. According to some sources, Nheengatu and Guarani are mutually intelligible.

See also

• Guaraní language
• Língua Geral
• Lingua Geral Paulista
• Old Tupi language
• Tupi–Guarani languages
• Region of Cabeça do Cachorro
• Tupi people

References

• Instituto Socio-Ambiental
• Ethnologue Report for Nhengatu

External links

• Nheengatu: léxico, textos, midia e outros links
• INPA - Núcleo de Pesquisas em Ciências Humanas e Sociais
• "Uma breve história da língua tupi, a língua do tempo que o Brasil era canibal"
• "Nheengatu e dialeto caipira"
• Etnolinguistica.Org: lista de discussão sobre línguas indígenas sul-americanas
• New York Times article Language Born of Colonialism Thrives Again in Amazon.