Old Tupi phonemes as they are represented by the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The Tupian alphabet used is the one developed by Antônio Lemos Barbosa[1] and slightly modified by Eduardo de Almeida Navarro.[2]
Old Tupi (16th-17th century)[1][3][2][4][5][6]
|
|
Labial
|
Coronal
|
Palatal
|
Velar
|
Glottal
|
| Nasals
|
m
|
n
|
(ɲ)[n 1]
|
ŋ |
|
| Plosive
|
prenasalized
|
(ᵐb)
|
(ⁿd)
|
|
(ᵑɡ)
|
| voiceless
|
p
|
t |
|
k
|
ʔ
|
| Fricative
|
β
|
s
|
ʃ[n 2]
|
(ɣ)[n 3]
|
h?
|
| Semivowel
|
(w~ɡʷ)[n 4] |
|
(j)[n 5]
|
(ɨ̯)
|
|
| Flap
|
|
ɾ |
|
|
|
Língua Geral Amazônica (18th-19th century)[4][7][5][8][9]
|
|
Labial
|
Coronal
|
Palatal
|
Velar
|
Glottal
|
| Nasals
|
m
|
n
|
(ɲ)[n 1]
|
ŋ |
|
| Plosive
|
prenasalized
|
(ᵐb)
|
(ⁿd)
|
|
(ᵑɡ)
|
| voiceless
|
p
|
t |
|
k
|
(ʔ)[n 6]
|
| Fricative
|
voiceless
|
(β)[n 7]
|
s
|
ʃ
|
(ɣ)[n 3]
|
|
| voiced
|
|
(ʒ)[n 8] |
|
|
| Semivowel
|
(w~ɡʷ)[n 4] |
|
(j)[n 5]
|
(ɨ̯)
|
|
| Flap
|
|
ɾ |
|
|
|
Língua Geral Paulista (18th-20th century)[10][11]
|
|
Labial
|
Coronal
|
Palatal
|
Velar
|
| Nasals
|
m
|
n
|
(ɲ)[n 1]
|
|
| Plosive
|
voiceless
|
p
|
t |
|
k
|
| voiced
|
b |
|
|
ɡ
|
| Fricative
|
voiceless
|
|
s
|
ʃ
|
|
| voiced
|
v
|
|
ʒ |
|
| Semivowel
|
(w~ɡʷ)[n 4] |
|
(j)[n 5] |
|
| Flap
|
|
ɾ |
|
|
| Lateral approximant
|
|
l |
|
|
Língua Geral Paulista[10][11]
|
|
Front
|
Central
|
Back
|
| Close
|
i ĩ |
|
u ũ
|
| Mid
|
e ẽ |
|
o õ
|
| Open
|
|
a ã
|
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Nasal allophone of [j].
- ^ Allophone of /s/ after /i/ in most cases, but can be considered a phoneme in a few words like makaxera, poxy and xe.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 A phone that appeared between /ɨ/ and other vowels.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Allophone of /u/ near other vowels when a glottal stop is not present, in free variation with [ɡʷ] in onset.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Allophone of /i/ near other vowels when a glottal stop is not present.
- ^ Lost as a phoneme by the 19th century. Still present as an intervocalic phone in Nheengatu, but not in fast speech.
- ^ Merged with [w] by the 19th century.
- ^ Onset allophone of [j], in free variation. Present as a distinguished phoneme in a few words in Rio Negro's Nheengatu, like jí (“axe”) and jibuya (“boa”).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Many authors disagree this nasal counterpart existed, but that doesn't explain words like nhũ and apekũ: it couldn't be a coda /m/ or /n/, since nouns couldn't end in a consonant.
- ^ Merged with /i/ or /u/ in many regions. Completely lost in modern Rio Negro's Nheengatu
| Consonants
|
| IPA
|
Representation
|
Example
|
| Tupi
|
LGA
|
LGP
|
Hist.
|
Norm.
|
| ʔ
|
|
∅, ¨
|
'
|
mba'e (“thing”)
|
| β
|
|
b
|
b
|
abá (“man”)
|
| ɣ
|
|
g
|
g
|
ygara (“canoe”)
|
| h
|
|
|
h
|
h
|
hẽhẽ (“yes”)
|
| k
|
c, g, qu, x (ky)
|
k
|
ka'a (“forest”)
|
| m
|
m
|
m
|
mokaba (“gun”)
|
| ᵐb
|
|
b, mb
|
mb
|
mboîa (“snake”)
|
| n
|
n
|
n
|
nambi (“ear”)
|
| ⁿd
|
|
d
|
nd
|
nde (“you”)
|
| ŋ
|
|
g, ng
|
ng
|
nhe'eng (“to speak”)
|
| ᵑɡ
|
|
|
ng
|
| ɲ
|
gn, ñ, nh
|
nh
|
kunhã (“woman”)
|
| p
|
b, p
|
p
|
pó (“hand”)
|
| ɾ
|
r
|
r
|
gûariba (“howler monkey”)
|
| s
|
s
|
s
|
sy (“mother”)
|
| t
|
t
|
t
|
tatu (“armadillo”)
|
| ʃ
|
ch, sch, x
|
x
|
ixé (“I”)
|
|
|
l
|
l
|
|
columi (“boy”)
|
|
|
v
|
v
|
|
uvaca (“sky”)
|
|
|
ɡ
|
g
|
|
gurâſû (“sun”)
|
|
ʒ
|
g, j
|
|
ragira (“daughter”)
|
| j
|
i, j, y
|
î
|
îasy (“moon”)
|
| w
|
o, u, w
|
û
|
apûã (“pointy”)
|
| ɡʷ[n 1]
|
go, gu
|
gû
|
gûará (“scarlet ibis”)
|
| ɨ̯
|
|
i, ig, y, yg
|
ŷ
|
apŷaba (“man”)
|
| Vowels
|
| a
|
a
|
a
|
arara (“macaw”)
|
| e
|
e
|
e
|
sykyîé (“fear”)
|
| i
|
i, j, y
|
i
|
karaíba (“white man”)
|
| o
|
au, o
|
o
|
só (“to go”)
|
| u
|
ou
|
u
|
gûasu (“big”)
|
| ɨ
|
|
e, i, î, ig, j, ou, ouy, u, y, yg
|
y
|
'ybá (“fruit”)
|
| ã
|
â, ã, an
|
ã
|
marã (“evil”)
|
| ẽ
|
ẽ, em
|
ẽ
|
nha'ẽ (“plate”)
|
| ĩ
|
ĩ, im
|
ĩ
|
mirĩ (“small”)
|
| õ
|
õ, om
|
õ
|
mokõi (“two”)
|
| ũ
|
ũ, um
|
ũ
|
apekũ (“tongue”)
|
| ɨ̃
|
|
u, ũ
|
ỹ
|
amỹîa (“grandfather”)
|
| Diacritics
|
|
Use
|
| ´
|
Primary stress
|
| ~
|
Nasalisation
|
| ^
|
Semivowel
|
- ^ Some scholars disagree this sound existed in Old Tupi, saying it came from a misundertanding of the Europeans at the time and that [w] was used in all cases.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Antônio Lemos Barbosa (1956) Curso de tupi antigo: gramática, exercícios, textos [Course of Old Tupi: Grammar, Exercises, Texts] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Livraria São José, page 26
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (1998) Método Moderno de Tupi Antigo: a língua do Brasil dos primeiros séculos [Modern method of Old Tupi: the language of Brazil's early centuries][1] (in Portuguese), 3 edition, São Paulo: Global Editora, published 2005, →ISBN
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Aryon Dall'Igna Rodrigues (1958) Phonologie der Tupinambá-Sprache[2] (in German), Hamburg: Universität Hamburg
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Antônio Augusto Souza Mello (2000 March 17) “Reconstruções Lexicais e Cognatos” (chapter III), in Estudo histórico da família linguística tupi-guarani: aspectos fonológicos e lexicais[3] (in Portuguese), Florianópolis: UFSC
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Aline da Cruz (2011) Fonologia e gramática do Nheengatú: a língua geral falada pelos povos Baré, Warekena e Baniwa[4] (in Portuguese), Amsterdam: LOT, →ISBN
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bárbara Heliodora Lemos de Pinheiro Santos, Aline da Cruz (2021 December) “Empréstimos Linguísticos do Português para a Língua Geral: século XVII [Linguistic borrowings from Portuguese to Língua Geral: 17th century]”, in Cadernos de Etnolingüística (in Portuguese), volume 9, number 1, Brasília: Biblioteca Digital Curt Nimuendajú, page e090104
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Ruth Maria Fonini Monserrat (2003) “O tupi do século XVIII (tupi-médio)” (chapter 10), in José Ribamar Bessa Freire, Maria Carlota Rosa, editors, Línguas gerais: política lingüística e catequese na América do Sul no período colonial[5] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: EDUERJ, →ISBN, pages 185-194
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Ruth Maria Fonini Monserrat (2015) “Observações sobre a fonologia da língua geral amazônica nos três últimos séculos [Observations on the phonology of Língua Geral Amazônica in the last three centuries]”, in Cândida Barros, Antônio Luís Lessa, editors, Dicionário da língua geral no Brasil [Dictionaty of the general language in Brazil] (in Portuguese), Belém: MPEG, →ISBN, pages 19–28
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Bárbara Heliodora Lemos de Pinheiro Santos, Aline da Cruz (2020) “Empréstimos do Português para a Língua Geral no Século XVIII [Portuguese loanwords for the Língua Geral in the 18th century]”, in Revista Brasileira de Línguas Indígenas (in Portuguese), volume 3, number 1, Macapá: UNIFAP, →DOI, pages 160–176
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Original research based on: anonymous author (18th century) Língua geral dos índios das Américas [General Language of the Indians of the Americas][6] (overall work in Portuguese and Old Tupi)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Original research based on: Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius (1867) “Diccionario de Verbos: portuguez tupi-austral e alemâo”, in Wörtersammlung Brasilianischer Sprachen (Beiträge zur Ethnographie und Sprachenkunde Amerika’s zumal Brasiliens; II) (overall work in Portuguese and German), Leipzig: Friedrich Fleischer
- Bárbara Heliodora Lemos de Pinheiro Santos (2020) Empréstimos lexicais do português para a Língua Geral: século XVI ao XXI[7] (in Portuguese), Brasília: UnB, page 190
Tupi language § Phonology on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 