Mura language

Mura is often proposed to be related to Matanawí.{{by whom|date=August 2024}} Kaufman (1994) also suggests a connection with Huarpe in his Macro-Warpean proposal.

Since at least Barboza Rodrigues (1892), there have been three ethnic names commonly listed as dialects of Mura, or even as Muran languages.{{Citation |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |title=Classification of the indigenous languages of South America |date=2012-01-13 |work=The Indigenous Languages of South America |pages=59–166 |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Lyle |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110258035.59/html |access-date=2025-03-31 |publisher=DE GRUYTER |doi=10.1515/9783110258035.59 |isbn=978-3-11-025513-3 |editor2-last=Grondona |editor2-first=Verónica|url-access=subscription }} The names are:{{cite journal|last=Barbosa Rodrigues |first=João |author-link=João Barbosa Rodrigues |year=1892 |title=Vocabulário indígena comparado para mostrar a adulteração da língua (complemento do Poranduba Amazonense) |place=Rio de Janeiro |journal=ABN |volume=15 |pages=2}}

• Bohurá, or Buxwaray, the original form of the name 'Mura'; spoken on the Autaz River{{cite book |last=Loukotka |first=Čestmír |author-link=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}}
• Pirahã, or Pirahá, Pirahán, the name the remaining dialect goes by
• Yahahí, also spelled Jahahi; spoken on the Branco River (unattested)

On the basis of a minuscule amount of data, it would appear that Bohurá (Mura proper) was mutually intelligible with Pirahã; however, for Yahahí there exists only ethnographic information, and it can be assumed they spoke the same language as other Mura. Rodrigues describes the Yahahí as having come from the Branco river, a tributary of the right bank of the upper Marmelos river. The last Yahahí are said to have joined the Pirahã.

The Mura/Bohurá endonym is {{lang|myp|Buhuraen}}, according to Barboza Rodrigues (1892),{{Cite book |last=Nimuendajú |first=Curt |author-link=Curt Nimuendajú |url=https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/hsai%3Avol3p255-269/vol3p255-269_mura_piraha.pdf |title=The Mura and Piraha |date=1948 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |series=Handbook of South American Indians |volume=3 |location=Washington}} or {{lang|myp|Buxivaray}} ~ {{lang|myp|Buxwarahay}}, according to Tastevin (1923). This was pronounced Murá by their neighbors, the Torá and Matanawi. In his vocabulary, Rodrigues lists Bohura for the people and bhũrai-ada "Mura language" for the language, from the Mura of the Manicoré River; Tastevin has Bohurai and bohuarai-arasé for the same. They also record,

: {{lang|myp|nahi buxwara araha}} "That one is Mura"

: {{lang|myp|yane abahi araha buxwarái}} "We are all Mura"

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Mura language varieties.

:

Below is a comparison of Mura and Pirahã words from Salles (2023):{{cite book |last=Salles |first=Raiane |chapter=Pirahã (Apáitisí) |editor-last=Epps |editor-first=Patience |editor-last2=Michael |editor-first2=Lev |title=Amazonian Languages: Language Isolates. Volume II: Kanoé to Yurakaré |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |location=Berlin |date=2023 |isbn=978-3-11-043273-2 |pages=957–994}}{{rp|959}}

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{{Reflist}}

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-509427-1}}.
• Everett, D. L. (1992). A língua Pirahã e a teoria da sintaxe: descrição, perspectivas e teoria. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp.
• Hanke, W. (1950a). O idioma Mura. Arquivos: Coletânea de documentor para a História da Amazônia, 12:3-8.
• Hanke, W. (1950b). Vocabulário e idioma mura dos índios mura do rio Manicoré. Arquivos, 12:3-8.
• Heinrichs, A. (1961). Questionário: Mura-Pirahã Rio Marmelos. (Questionário dos Vocabulários Padrões para estudos comparativos preliminares de línguas indígenas brasileiras.) Rio de Janeiro: Museu Nacional.
• Heinrichs, A. (1963). Questionário: Mura-Pirahã Rios Marmelos e Maici. (Questionário dos Vocabulários Padrões para estudos comparativos preliminares de línguas indígenas brasileiras.) Rio de Janeiro: Museu Nacional.
• {{Cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Terrence |title=Atlas of the world's languages |last2= |first2= |date=1994 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-01925-5 |editor-last=Moseley |editor-first=Christopher |location=London |page=67 |chapter=The native languages of South America |editor-last2=Asher |editor-first2=Ronald E.}}
• Curt Nimuendajú (1948): "The Mura" and "The Yahahi", in [https://archive.org/stream/bulletin14331948smit/bulletin14331948smit_djvu.txt Handbook of South American Indians, Volume 3: The Tropical Forest Tribes], ed. Julian H. Steward, pp. 255–269.

{{sister project |project=wiktionary |text=Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Mura word list}}

• PROEL: [http://www.proel.org/mundo/muran.htm Grupo Muran]

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Category:Endangered Indigenous languages of the Americas