Tarairiú language

Tarairiú (a.k.a. Caratiú) is an extinct and very poorly known language of eastern Brazil. The Tarairiu nation was divided into several tribes: the Janduí, Kanindé, Paiaku (Pajacú, Bajacú), Jenipapo, Jenipabuçu, Javó, Kamaçu, Tukuriju, Ariu, and "Xukuru" / Xacó.

It was once spoken between the Assú River and Apodi River in Rio Grande do Norte.^[1]

Extinct varieties

Below is a list of extinct Tarairiú language varieties listed by Loukotka (1968), including names of unattested varieties.^[1]

• Xoró - once spoken on the Apodi River, state of Rio Grande do Norte.
• Janduí - once spoken between the Apodi River and Açú River, Rio Grande do Norte.
• Payacu - once spoken in Rio Grande do Norte in the Serra do Coité, Serra de São Bento and Serra Calabouço between the Jaguaribe River and Apodi River.
• Panatí - once spoken in the state of Paraíba in the Serra Panatí and near Villaflor.
• Miñari - once spoken in the valley of the Apodi River, Rio Grande do Norte.
• Panahi - language of the neighbors of the Miñari tribe, Rio Grande do Norte.
• Canindé - once spoken at the sources of the Choró River, state of Ceará.
• Genipapo - Portuguese name of an extinct language on the Choró River.
• Camamu - once spoken on the Acaraú River, Ceará.
• Itañá / Baturité - once spoken in the Serra de Baturité, Ceará.
• Candodú - language of a neighboring tribe of the Jucá, Quixetó and Caratiú.
• Caratiú - once spoken at the sources of the Poti River and in the valley of the Triá River, Ceará.
• Camasú - once spoken in Ceará state at the sources of the Acaratí-guasú River
• Acriú - once spoken on the left bank of the Acaraná River, Ceará.
• Anasé - spoken in Ceará, on the right bank of the Acaraú River.

Classification

The language is attested only through a few word lists. A few words resemble those of neighboring Kariri (and other Macro-Je) and Xukuru languages, but not enough to support a genealogical connection. Kaufman (1994) reports that "not even Greenberg dares classify this language".

Vocabulary

Some of the recorded words:

Resemblances with Macro-Jê languages are in kebra 'stone' (Proto-Je *kɛn), kreká 'head' (*krã), koreké 'hand' (*-ĩkra), and poyá 'foot' (*par). Resemblances with Xukuru are kiro- 'fire' (Xukuru kiyo), kringó 'eat' (kringgo 'feed'), sok 'house' (šekh).

Loukotka (1968) gives three words in Tarairiú:^[1]

• agh 'sun'
• kén 'stone'
• ake 'tobacco'

For a more extensive vocabulary list of Tarairiú by de Souza (2009),^[3] see the corresponding Portuguese article.

Lexical comparison

An alternative list of Tarairiú words compared with "Jê" dialects and Cariri, compiled by the Paraíba historian José Elias Barbosa Borges, is given in Medeiros (1999):^[4]

Portuguese gloss (original)	English gloss (translated)	Tarairiú	Jê dialects	Cariri
água	water	kaité	nko	dzu
cabeça	head	kreká	krã	tçambu
cabelo	hair	unj	sun	dü
casa	house	sekri	ikré	crá
comer	eat	kringó	khrem	ami
dormir	sleep	gon-yá	nogon	uni
filho	son	ako	ikra	inhurae
fogo	fire	kiró, kia	korru, kuwi	isu
mão	hand	koreke	bkhra	müsã
mulher	woman	krippó	mprom, piko	tidzi
nariz	nose	sikrin	khra	naembi
olho	eye	aço	nto	do
orelha	ear	bandulak	mpak	benhé
pé	foot	poiá	par	bü

References

Wiktionary has a word list at Appendix:Tarairiú word list

• Juvandi de Souza Santos (2009): Cariri e tarairiú? Culturas tapuias nos sertoẽs da Paraíba (Tesis doctoral), Porto Alegre, Pontificia Universidade Católica Do Rio Grande do Sul.