The Borôroan languages of Brazil are Borôro and the extinct Umotína and Otuke. They are sometimes considered to form part of the proposed Macro-Jê language family, though this has been disputed. They are called the Borotuke languages by Mason (1950), a portmanteau of Bororo and Otuke.

Languages

The relationship between the languages is, Gorgotoqui may have also been a Bororoan language. See Otuke for various additional varieties of the Chiquito Plains in Bolivia which may have been dialects of it, such as Kovare and Kurumina. There are other recorded groups that may have spoken languages or dialects closer to Borôro, such as Aravirá, but nothing is directly known about these languages: Orari (Eastern Borôro, Orarimugodoge), listed by Loukotka as a language that was spoken on the Valhas River, Garças River, and Madeira River in Mato Grosso, is another name for Bororo. Bororo of Cabaçal, which has been documented by Johann Natterer and Francis de Castelnau, has been identified by Camargo (2014) as a separate language distinct from Bororo proper.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items. ! gloss !! Boróro !! Orari !! Umutina !! Otuque ! tongue ! hand ! fire ! stone ! sun ! moon ! earth ! jaguar ! fish ! house ! bow

Proto-language

For a list of Proto-Bororo reconstructions by, see the corresponding Portuguese article.

External relations

The Bororoan languages are commonly thought to be part of the Macro-Jê language family. Ceria & Sandalo (1995) note parallels between Bororo and the Guaicuruan languages. Kaufman (1994) has suggested a relationship with the Chiquitano language, which Nikulin (2020) considers to be a sister of Macro-Jê. Furthermore, Nikulin (2019) has suggested that Bororoan has a relationship with the Cariban and Kariri languages: ! gloss !! Proto-Bororo !! Kariri !! Proto-Cariban ! tooth ! ear ! go ! tree ! tongue ! root ! hand ! fat (n.) ! seed ! fish ! name ! heavy An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013) also found lexical similarities between Bororoan and Cariban.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Guato, Karib, Kayuvava, Nambikwara, and Tupi language families due to contact. Cariban influence in Bororoan languages was due to the later southward expansion of Cariban speakers into Bororoan territory. Ceramic technology was also adopted from Cariban speakers. Similarly, Cariban borrowings are also present in the Karajá languages. Karajá speakers had also adopted ceramic technology from Cariban speakers. Similarities with Cayuvava are due to the expansion of Bororoan speakers into the Chiquitania region.