Macro-Jê languages

Macro-Jê
Macro-Gê
Geographic
distribution:
Brazil
Linguistic classification:

Je–Tupi–Carib?

  • Macro-Jê
Subdivisions:
Glottolog: nucl1710  (Nuclear Macro-Je)[1]

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The Macro-Jê families of Kaufman's conception

Macro-Jê (also spelled Macro-Gê) is a medium-sized language stock in South America centered on the Jê language family, with all other branches currently being single languages due to recent extinctions. The family was first proposed in 1926, and has undergone moderate modifications since then. Kaufman (1990) finds the proposal "probable".

Eduardo Ribeiro of the University of Chicago finds no evidence to classify Fulniô (Yatê) and Guató as Macro-Je, pace Kaufman, nor Otí and Chiquitano, pace Greenberg.[2]

These languages share irregular morphology with the Tupi and Carib families, and Rodrigues (2000) and Ribeiro connect them all as a Je–Tupi–Carib family.

Glottolog accepts Je, Krenak (Aimore), Karaja, Maxakali, Ofaie, Rikbaktsa, and Yabutian (Jabuti), with Karaja, Ofaie, Rikbaktsa in a single "Ofaie" branch. Lexical parallels with Kamakanan and Purian have yet to be corroborated with reconstructions. It notes suggestive grammatical similarities with Bororoan, Kariri, and Chiquitano, of the kind also shared with Tupian and Cariban, but little lexical evidence.

References

  1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Nuclear Macro-Je". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
  2. Ribeiro, Eduardo Rivail. 2012. A grammar of Karajá. University of Chicago. 302.