Kaʼapor language

Kaʼapor
Urubu
Native to	Brazil
Region	Maranhão
Ethnicity	990 Kaapor (2006)
Native speakers	800 (2006)
Language family	Tupian Tupi–Guaraní Wayampí Kaʼapor
Writing system	Latin script
Signed forms	Kaʼapor Sign Language
Language codes
ISO 639-3	urb
Glottolog	urub1250
ELP	Kaapor
Linguasphere	88-AAA-d

Kaapor (Kaʼapor, Kaaporté), also known as "Urubú," "Caapor" or Urubú-Kaapor, is a Tupi–Guarani language spoken as a primary language by the Kaʼapor people of Brazil. The language is also spoken as a second language by non-Ka'apor ethnic groups, including Tembé.

There is a high incidence of congenital deafness among the Kaʼapor people, most of whom grow up bilingual in Urubu-Kaapor Sign Language, which may be indigenous to them.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
				plain	lab.
Stop	p	t		k	kʷ	ʔ
Fricative		s	ʃ			h
Nasal	m	n		ŋ	ŋʷ
Rhotic		ɾ
Approximant	w		j

• Sounds /s, ʃ, m, n/ may also be heard as [ts, tʃ, ᵐb, ⁿd] in word-initial positions.
• /j/ may also be heard as [ʒ] or [dʒ] freely, in word-initial positions.
• /ɾ/ may also be heard as a trill [r] in word-final positions.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ	ɨ	u ũ
Mid	e ẽ		o õ
Open		a ã

• Sounds /e, o/ may also be heard as more open [ɛ, ɔ] in stressed syllables.

References

• Lopes, Mario Alexandre Garcia (2009). Aspectos Gramaticais da Língua KA'APOR [Grammatical Aspects of the KA'APOR Language] (PhD thesis) (in Portuguese). Federal University of Minas Gerais. hdl:1843/ALDR-7R5QDU.