Trans-Tocantins languages

{{Short description|Proposed subgroup of the Northern Jê languages}}

{{Infobox language family

| name = Trans-Tocantins

| region = Tocantins, Pará, Mato Grosso

| familycolor = macro-je | fontcolor = white

| fam1 = Macro-Jê

| fam2 = Jê

| fam3 = Cerrado

| fam4 = Jê of Goyaz

| fam5 = Northern Jê

| child1 = Apinajé

| child2 = Trans-Araguaia (Mẽbêngôkre, Kĩsêdjê, Tapayúna)

| glotto = none

| glottorefname =

}}

The Trans-Tocantins languages are a proposed subgroup of the Northern Jê languages, which comprises four languages spoken to the west of the Tocantins River: Apinajé, Mẽbêngôkre, Kĩsêdjê, and Tapayúna.{{cite thesis|last=Nikulin |first=Andrey |date=2020 |url=http://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/tese%3Anikulin-2020/Nikulin_2020_Proto-Macro-Je.pdf |title=Proto-Macro-Jê: um estudo reconstrutivo |type=Ph.D. dissertation |location=Brasília |publisher=Universidade de Brasília}}{{rp|7}} It is subdivided in a binary manner into Apinajé, spoken to the east of the Araguaia River, and the Trans-Araguaia subbranch, which includes the remaining three languages. Together with the Timbira dialect continuum, the Trans-Tocantins languages make up the Northern branch of the Jê family.

The defining innovations of the Trans-Tocantins languages include the replacement of Proto-Goyaz Jê and Proto-Northern Jê *a-mbə ‘eat (intransitive)’ (as preserved in Canela/Krahô/Parkatêjê apà, Pykobjê aapỳ, Panará -ânpâ) with Proto-Trans-Tocantins *ap-ku (> Apinajé apku, Mẽbêngôkre aku, Kĩsêdjê/Tapayúna akhu).{{cite journal |last1=Nikulin |first1=Andrey |last2=Carvalho |first2=Fernando O. de |title=Estudos diacrônicos de línguas indígenas brasileiras: um panorama |journal=Macabéa – Revista Eletrônica do Netlli |date=2019 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=255–305 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/230133781.pdf |accessdate=6 August 2020}}{{rp|274}} as well as the fortition of Proto-Northern Jê *j to *ĵ in unstressed syllables (except if preceded by the low vowel *a), as shown below.{{rp|234}}

class="wikitable" ! Proto-Northern Jê !! gloss !! Proto-Trans-Tocantins !! Apinajé !! Mẽbêngôkre !! Kĩsêdjê !! Tapayúna
*jujarẽñ	‘to narrate (nonfinite)’	*ĵujarẽñ	xujarẽnh	djujarẽnh	tujarẽn	tujarẽj
*jəbir	‘to go up (nonfinite)’	*ĵəbir	xàpir	djàbiri	tápiri	tàwiri