Fulniô, or Yatê, is a language isolate of Brazil, and the only indigenous language remaining in the northeastern part of that country. The two dialects, Fulniô and Yatê, are very close. The Fulniô dialect is used primarily during a three-month religious retreat. Today, the language is spoken in Águas Belas, Pernambuco. The language is also called Carnijó, and alternate spellings are Fornió, Furniô, Yahthe, and Iatê.

Classification

Kaufman (1990) classified Fulniô as one of the Macro-Gê languages. However, Eduardo Ribeiro of the University of Chicago, who is working on large-scale classification of Brazilian languages, finds no evidence to support this, and treats it as an isolate. Jolkesky (2016) again has it as Macro-Je, but Nikulin (2020) again excludes it.

Phonology

Fulniô has the following sounds:

Consonants

is rare.

Vowels

Fulniô has 8 vowels. There are few contrasts between and, suggesting is a recent addition, perhaps from Portuguese. All seven have nasalized and glottalized allophones, depending on adjacent consonants. Vowels occur long and short. However, long vowels result from assimilation of, are pronounced in one dialect, and so are analyzed as sequences. Tones are high and low. Contour tones occur allophonically adjacent to voiced consonants. Final syllables tend to lack a tone contrast, and final vowels may be devoiced or dropped. There are no vowel sequences; vowels either coalesce or are separated by a glottal stop. Consonant clusters are limited to two consonants, apart from a possible additional, with the maximum syllable being CCCVC; reduced vowels between consonants are analyzed as by Meland & Meland: 'crossing over', 'rotten'.

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968)

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items. ! gloss !! Fulnio

Nikulin (2020)

Some Yaathê words given by Nikulin (2020), cited from Lapenda (1965, 2005 [1968] ), Barbosa (1991), Costa (1999), F. Silva (2011a, 2011b ), and Branner (1887). ! Portuguese gloss (original) !! English gloss (translated) !! Yaathê