Tarairiú language

Tarairiú is an extinct 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.

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

Classification

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

Varieties

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

• 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.

Vocabulary

Some of the recorded words:

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:

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

For a more extensive vocabulary list of Tarairiú by de Souza (2009), see the corresponding .

Lexical comparison

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

References