Dzubukuá language

Dzubukuá (or Kariri), referred to by the community as Kariri-Xocó,^[3] is an extinct Karirian language of Brazil. It is sometimes considered a dialect of a single Kariri language. Since 1989, there is a process of linguistic revitalization underway; the Tingui-Botó people claim to use Dzubukuá, their ancestral language, in their secret Ouricuri ritual.^[4]

Dzubukuá
Kariri, Kariri-Xocó
1709 catechism in Dzubukuá
Native to	Brazil
Region	Cabrobó, Pernambuco
Ethnicity	Kariri-Xocó [pt]
Revival	1989[1][2]
Language family	Karirian Dzubukuá
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kzw [3]
Glottolog	dzub1241  Dzubukuá kari1255  Karirí-Xocó

It was spoken on the São Francisco River islands, in the Cabrobó area of Pernambuco.^[5]

Documentation

There are only two known primary sources containing the Dzubukuá language. One is a manuscript dated 1702,^[a] and the other is a 1709 catechism,^[b] both by the French Capuchin missionary Bernardo de Nantes.^[6] In the preface of the catechism, Nantes attests to the distinction between the way the Dzubukuá and Kipeá speak ("one language is as different from the other as Portuguese is from Castilian").^[7]

Phonology

Consonantal phonemes of the Dzubukuá language^[8][9]

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Occlusive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Flap			ɾ
Fricative						h
Affricate	voiceless		ts
	voiced		dz
Lateral			l
Glide		(w)		(j)

• In 2012, Queiroz revised his 2008 description and changed his position regarding the existence of glides in Dzubukuá. Thus, ⟨j⟩ and ⟨y⟩, which he had considered indicators of /j/, and ⟨w⟩ and ⟨v⟩, which he had considered indicators of /w/, came to be reinterpreted as the high vowels /i/ and /u/.^[10]

Vocalic phonemes of the Dzubukuá language^[11][12]

		Front	Central	Back
High		i	ɨ	u
Mid	unrounded	e
	rounded	œ		o
Low			a

• /a/ has the allophones [a], [ɐ̰], and [ã].^[13]
• /e/ has the allophones [e], [ḛ], [eː], and [ẽ].^[14]
• /œ/ has the allophones [œ], [æ], [œ̰].^[14]
• /i/ has the allophones [i] and [ḭ].^[14]
• /u/ has the allophones [u], [ṵ], and [uː].^[14]
• /o/ has the allophones [o], [o̰], [oː], and [o̰ː].^[14]

Sample text

Below, the Lord's Prayer in Dzubukuá, according to Bernardo de Nantes in his 1709 catechism:^[15]

Kupadzua nhinho dibbali mo arãquè, donetsoa onadce, dohanaclèa andzenne, duca adôo dseho wohôye donanhe hidommodè bo imwj Iaccedde do anunhiu; do Innea búye do amuiquede mo radda, mono Innea bûye do amuiquede mo hémwj. doddi enna hyammittedè moenaham, docabbi enna hidôodè mo hibuangatedè anhiëj, mono wo hicabbidè do dibuangali hiëiddè dopecrodce Iadcedde ho Ihencoddhete nienwo, donunhie Iadcedde bo Ibulète bammodi Bopadzu nhinho.