// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Kambiwá language say to its student? "You kam, I teach, biwa.
| Kambiwá | |
|---|---|
| Cambioá | |
| Native to | Brazil |
| Region | Petrolândia, Pernambuco |
| Ethnicity | Kambiwá |
| Extinct | (date missing) |
unclassified | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xbw |
| Glottolog | kamb1239 |
Kambiwá (a.k.a. Cambioá) is an extinct unclassified language of Brazil. The Kambiwá still refer to their original language, and they preserve a few words of it today.[1][2]
History
[edit]Documentation
[edit]In 1935, 27 words of Kambiwá were recorded, followed by 25 words collected circa 1955; some of the words coincide between the two wordlists.[3] A couple dozen words were further collected by Wilbur Pickering in 1961 from two people living in Barreira, Petrolândia, Pernambuco. However, by that time the language had become extinct.[4]
Classification
[edit]Apart from two apparent borrowings from Tupi, none of the words are relatable to known languages. Czech linguist Čestmír Loukotka (1968) characterized the language as unclassifiable due to lack of data.[5]
Vocabulary
[edit]Oliviera ms.
[edit]The following vocabulary was recorded by Carlos Estevão de Oliveira in Brejo dos Padres, Pernambuco and extracted from a manuscript nearly destroyed by termites by Loukotka and published in 1963. Loukotka had identified the wordlist as Pankararú,[6] but it is actualy Kambiwá.[7][3]
gloss Kambiwá ostrich lašikrã potato kafofa sweet potato guaska woman sikiurú lightning traikosã man porkiá moon tiũpanyé fly môka palm tree morõdõgo penis kiri monkey arinã sun, god panyé giant anteater murekaukaukri tatu arikîó tatu-bola kuarau vagina greleisão
Meader (1978)
[edit]In 1961, two word lists of Kambiwá were collected by Wilbur Pickering from elderly rememberers in Barreira, Petrolândia, Pernambuco. The word lists are published in Meader (1978).[4]
Word list recorded from Manoel de Souza:
Portuguese gloss
(original)English gloss
(translated)Kambiwá bebê indígena indigenous baby ˈkɔ́lúmì fogo fire ˈtóɪ̀ fumo smoke ˈpɔ́ṛ̃ùi mulher woman ˈšíˈtúrù cachimbo smoking pipe ˈkákʷì / ˈkʷákʷì gado cattle ˈkǫ́ną̀ homem branco (estrangeiro) white man (stranger) ˈtš̭ʸářίtš̭ʸà negro black man tãˑˈkážúpì ovelha sheep ˈtʸápɔsεřε̨ peba six-banded armadillo ˈr̃úpʌ̨̀ų̀ porco-do-mato collared peccary
(Pecari tajacu)ˈtų́pàřà raposa fox ˈfɔ́iàsà tamanduá tamandua ˈfílípį̀ tatu-bola Brazilian three-banded armadillo
(Tolypeutes tricinctus)ˈkʌ̨́ñíkį̀
Word list recorded from an elderly man named Tenoro:
Portuguese gloss
(original)English gloss
(translated)Kambiwá fogo fire břázádò fumo smoke pą̃ˈ húì abelha bee ˈkóìm água corrente running water bibi / ε bebida alcoólica indígena
feita de jurema-pretaindigenous liquor made from black jurema
(Mimosa tenuiflora)ʌ̨́žúˈkà bebida alcoólica indígena
feita de muriciindigenous liquor made from murici
(Byrsonima crassifolia)álúˈà besta beast ˈtš̭ʸápàřú homem branco white man ˈnεkřu ovelha sheep púsɛ́ˈrɛ̨̀ peba six-banded armadillo
(Euphractus sexcinctus)ˈgʷášínì porco-do-mato collared peccary
(Pecari tajacu)pǫį veado deer ˈgʷą́wų̀
Pompeu (1958)
[edit]Estevão recorded a language in Brejo dos Padres, said to be spoken by the Indigenous people of the Serra Negra in Pernambuco. It was received by Thomaz Pompeu Sobrinho in 1940 and published 18 years later. The wordlist he collected is presented below.[8]
Portuguese gloss
(original)English gloss
(translated)"Serra Negra" sol sun kari lua moon tyupanyé trovão thunder traikozã homem man porkiá mulher woman sikiurú macaco monkey arinã cachorro dog sará tatu-peba six-banded armadillo
(Euphractus sexcinctus)tukuaranã, rapão tatu-bola Brazilian three-banded armadillo
(Tolypeutes tricinctus)kwaráu tatu verdadeiro nine-banded armadillo
(Dasypus novemcinctus)arikyó tamanduá colete southern tamandua
(Tamandua tetradactyla)muze káu káukrí porco pig aleal veado deer kwãú, gãcú gado vacum cattle kõnã cavalo horse tyaparú ema rhea lashikrá tabaco, fumo tobacco, smoke kupriô bom good niré rancho ranch poró branco white man karikyá negro black man tapsishunã mosca fly moka vaca cow tyanã bezerro calf tyapatã Deus God panyé
Barbosa (1991)
[edit][9]: 98
gloss Kambiwá smoking pipe made from jurema root qüaquí straight ceramic smoking pipe matricó deer güaipú striped hog-nosed skunk jarita armadillo papú six-banded armadillo urupã tamandua pediú fox foiaça Brazilian three-banded armadillo caniquin jaguar mací skirt made from Neoglaziovia variegata fiber cateoba maraca made from gourds coité caboclo urucú female caboclo citurú child conomim black man tacajupe smoke (tobacco) porrú fire toê gua [sic] jehuá moon girací, irací sun guarací Baccharis sylvestris tupichaná
References
[edit]- ↑ "Kambiwá - Povos Indígenas no Brasil". pib.socioambiental.org. Retrieved 2025-04-16.
- ↑ Barbosa, Wallace de Deus (October 1991). Os índios kambiwá de Pernambuco: arte e identidade étnica (Thesis). p. 98.
- 1 2 Campbell, Lyle (2024-06-25), "Unclassified and Spurious Languages", The Indigenous Languages of the Americas (1 ed.), Oxford University PressNew York, pp. 280–338, doi:10.1093/oso/9780197673461.003.0005, ISBN 978-0-19-767346-1, retrieved 2026-07-06 "Loukotka (1963, 15) erroneously attributed sixteen Kambiwá words collected in Brejo dos Padres to Pankararú"
- 1 2 Meader, Robert E. (1978). Indios do Nordeste: Levantamento sobre os remanescentes tribais do nordeste brasileiro (PDF) (in Portuguese). Brasilia: SIL International. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
- ↑ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
- ↑ Loukotka, Čestmír (1963). "Documents et vocabulaires inédits de langues et de dialectes sud-américains". Journal de la société des américanistes. 52 (1): 7–60. doi:10.3406/jsa.1963.2001.
- ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2026). "Kambiwá". Glottolog 5.3. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. "Kambiwa words erroneously offered as Pankararú"
- ↑ Pompeu Sobrinho, Thomaz. 1958. Línguas Tapuias desconhecidas do Nordeste: Alguns vocabulários inéditos. Boletim de Antropologia (Fortaleza-Ceará) 2. 3-19.
- ↑ Barbosa, Wallace de Deus (1991). Os índios Kambiwa de Pernambuco : arte e identidade étnica (PDF) (Master's thesis). Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2025-12-03.
- Meader, R. E. 1978. Indios do nordeste. Levantamento sobre os remanescentes tribais do nordeste brasileiro. SIL Internacional. pp 65–92.
- Fabre, Alain (2005): "Kambiwá" (Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos)][permanent dead link]