Nheengatu (from nheen: to speak, gatu: good; code: yrl; also Ñeengatú, Nhengatu, Yeral, Yẽgatu, Nyengato, Ñeegatú, Waengatu, Língua Jeral, Língua Geral Amazônica, Tapïhïya) refers to the colonial tradition of Tupinambá, a language of the Tupi-Guaraní family spoken on the coast of Brazil at the time of first contact with Europeans in the early 16th century.  The Jesuits used Tupinambá as a mission language  and carried it as far as the Amazon, where it became nativised as Nheengatú and functioned as the most important supra-ethnic lingua franca of the multilingual Amazonian society until deep into the nineteenth century. In the course of the military suppression of Amazonian autonomy efforts since the middle of the 19th century, Nheengatú retreated to the Rio Negro and its tributaries Içana and Xié in the extreme northwest of Brazil, where it is still spoken today by about 7,000 people, mainly in Brazil, but also in Colombia and Venezuela. Most speakers belong to the Baré, Baniwa and Werekena groups, which have partly lost their Arawak languages of the same name. In addition, 18 other languages from four families are spoken here, besides Portuguese or Spanish. This language thus crosses the borders between Europe and Brazil, between different ethnic groups on the Amazon and also between the modern nation states of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela.

In a first visit in São Gabriel da Cachoeira in September 2019, we were able to record a total of 14 speakers using the method described. The transcriptions were made by FOIRN (Federação das organizações indígenas do Rio Negro) staff under the direction of Edson Baré, and the morphological glosses are thanks to Bárbara Heliodora Lemos de Pinheiro Santos.

A very good introduction to the social history of Amazonian languages is provided by

Freire, José R. B. 2011. Rio Babel: A história das línguas na Amazônia, 2nd edn. Rio de Janeiro: EdUERJ.

The best grammar is provided without a doubt by

Cruz, Aline d. 2011. Fonologia e gramática do Nheengatú: A língua geral falada pelos povos Baré, Warekena e Baniwa. Zugl.: Amsterdam, Freie Univ. Diss. 2011 (LOT 280). Utrecht: LOT.

Colaborators Nheengatú and Portuguese in Rio Negro, São Gabriel da Cachoeira

In a first stay in São Gabriel da Cachoeira in September 2019, we were able to record a total of 14 speakers using the method described. The transcriptions were made by FOIRN (Federação das organizações indígenas do Rio Negro) staff under the direction of Edson Baré, and the morphological glosses were made by Bárbara Heliodora Lemos de Pinheiro Santos.

Corpora

In the following table you will find an overview of the published corpora. Clicking on the name of the corpus will take you directly to the corresponding page in the FU repository, where you can download the files for each experiment individually. Click here for an overview of the Nheengatú glosses.

Note: the ELAN files must be associated with the corresponding audio file. For this, please download the WAV file of the same name in advance.