Gamela language
{{Short description|Extinct indigenous language of Brazil}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Gamela
| nativename =
| states = Maranhão, Brazil
| region = Northeastern Brazil
| extinct = by 1968
| family = unclassified (isolate?)
| familycolor = American
| iso3 = none
| glotto = game1240
| glottorefname = Gamela of Viana
| altname = Gamela of Viana
| era = attested 1937
| ethnicity = {{ill|Gamela people|pt|Gamelas}}
}}
Gamela (Gamella, Acobu, Barbados) {{a.k.a.}} Curinsi or Acobu, is an unclassified and extinct language of the Maranhão region of Northeastern Brazil. It was originally spoken along the Itapecuru River, Turiaçu River, and Pindaré River, with ethnic descendants reported to be living in Cabo and Vianna in Maranhão State. The Gamela today speak Xavante and Portuguese.
Kaufman (1994) said that 'only Greenberg dares to classify this language', due to the lack of data on it.
This is the Gamela language of Viana{{cite web| editor-last1= Hammarström| editor-first1 = Harald| editor-last2 = Forke| editor-first2 = Robert| editor-last3 = Haspelmath| editor-first3 = Martin| editor-last4 = Bank| editor-first4 = Sebastian| year = 2020|title = Gamela of Viana | work = Glottolog 4.3| url = https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/game1240}} for which 19 words are recorded in Nimuendajú (1937:68).
Other varieties
Below are other extinct varieties, many of which have no data, that may have been related to Gamela.
- Arañí - once spoken between the Parnaíba River and Itapecuru River (unattested)
- Puti (Poti) - once spoken at the mouth of the Poti River (unattested)
- Anapurú - once spoken on the right bank of the Parnaíba River (unattested)
- Uruati - extinct language from the mouth of the Munim River, Maranhão
- Cururi - extinct language of the neighbors of the Uruati tribe
- Guanare - once spoken between the Itapecuru River and Parnaíba River (unattested)
- Coroatá - once spoken on the Itapecuru River, Maranhão (unattested)
- Guaxina - once spoken at the mouth of the Itapecuru River (unattested)
- Curinsi - an extinct dialect of the Gamela once spoken near Vianna
- Tacarijú - once spoken on the Longá River in the state of Piauí (unattested)
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) gives three words in Gamela:{{cite book |last=Loukotka |first=Čestmír |authorlink=Čestmír Loukotka |title=Classification of South American Indian languages |url=https://archive.org/details/classificationof0007louk |url-access=registration |publisher=UCLA Latin American Center |year=1968 |location=Los Angeles}}
- {{lang|sai|kokeáto}} 'pot'
- {{lang|sai|kyoipé}} 'tree'
- {{lang|sai|anéno}} 'tobacco'
Gamella of Viana words recorded by Nimuendajú (1937:68) from his informant Maria Cafuza in Viana, Maranhão:Nimuendajú, Curt. 1937. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3316456 The Gamella Indians]. Primitive Man 10. 58-71.
:
| class="wikitable sortable"
! gloss !! Gamella of Viana | |
| fire | {{lang|sai|tatá}} (< Tupi) |
| penis | {{lang|sai|purú}} |
| vulva | {{lang|sai|sebú}} |
| Negro | {{lang|sai|katú-brohó}} |
| White? Indian? | {{lang|sai|katú-koyaká}} |
| brother-in-law | {{lang|sai|múisi}} |
| pot | {{lang|sai|kokeáto}} |
| gourd bowl | {{lang|sai|kutubé}} |
| club | {{lang|sai|tamarána}} (< Tupi) |
| knife | {{lang|sai|kasapó}} |
| jaguar | {{lang|sai|yopopó}} |
| monkey | kokói (< Timbira) |
| horse | pohoné |
| cattle | azutí |
| domestic fowl | kureːká |
| tree | kyoipé |
| tobacco | anéno |
| pepper | birizu |
| thick | tomabéto |
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{sister project |project=wiktionary |text=Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Gamela word list}}
- {{cite book|last=Kaufman|first=Terrence|authorlink=Terrence Kaufman|year=1994|chapter=The native languages of South America|editor1-first=C.|editor1-last=Mosley|editor2-first=R. E.|editor2-last=Asher|title=Atlas of the world's languages|pages=46–76|location=London|publisher=Routledge}}
{{Languages of Brazil}}
{{NE Brazil languages}}
{{South American languages}}
Category:Indigenous languages of Northeastern Brazil