Kaapor (Kaʼapor, Kaaporté), also known as "Urubú," "Caapor" or Urubú-Kaapor, is a Tupi–Guarani language spoken as a primary language by the Kaʼapor people of Brazil. The language is also spoken as a second language by non-Ka'apor ethnic groups, including Tembé. [2][3]
There is a high incidence of congenital deafness among the Kaʼapor people, most of whom grow up bilingual in Urubu-Kaapor Sign Language, which may be indigenous to them.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | |||||
| Stop | p | t | k | kʷ | ʔ | |
| Fricative | s | ʃ | h | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||
| Rhotic | ɾ | |||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||
- Sounds /s, ʃ, m, n/ may also be heard as [ts, tʃ, ᵐb, ⁿd] in word-initial positions.
- /j/ may also be heard as [ʒ] or [dʒ] freely, in word-initial positions.
- /ɾ/ may also be heard as a trill [r] in word-final positions.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ĩ | ɨ | u ũ |
| Mid | e ẽ | o õ | |
| Open | a ã |
- Sounds /e, o/ may also be heard as more open [ɛ, ɔ] in stressed syllables.
References
- ^ a b Kaʼapor at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ "Ka'apor - Indigenous Peoples in Brazil". pib.socioambiental.org. Retrieved 2018-11-22.
- ^ "Kaapor". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-11-22.
- Lopes, Mario Alexandre Garcia (2009). Aspectos Gramaticais da Língua KA'APOR [Grammatical Aspects of the KA'APOR Language] (PhD thesis) (in Portuguese). Federal University of Minas Gerais. hdl:1843/ALDR-7R5QDU.