Tarairiú language

Tarairiú AKA Caratiú is an extinct and very poorly known language of eastern Brazil. The Tarairiu nation was divided into several tribes: the Janduí, Kanindé, Paiaku (Pajacú, Bajacú), Jenipapo, Jenipabuçu, Javó, Kamaçu, Tukuriju, Ariu, and "Xukuru" / Xacó.

Tarairiú
Otschukayana
Native to	Brazil
Region	Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará
Extinct	(date missing)
Language family	unclassified
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	tara1303  Tarairiú[1] jeni1237  Jenipapo-Kaninde[2]

It was once spoken between the Assú River and Apodi River in Rio Grande do Norte.[3]

Extinct varieties

Below is a list of extinct Tarairiú language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.[3]

• 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.
• Payacu - 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

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

Some of the recorded words:

Gloss	Tarairiú[4]
'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:[3]

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

For a more extensive vocabulary list of Tarairiú by de Souza (2009),[5] see the corresponding Portuguese article.

References

1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Tarairiú". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Jenipapo-Kaninde". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
4. J. de Souza Santos, 2009, p. 735-739
5. 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.

• Juvandi de Souza Santos (2009): Cariri e tarairiú? Culturas tapuias nos sertoẽs da Paraíba (Tesis doctoral), Porto Alegre, Pontificia Universidade Católica Do Rio Grande do Sul.