Xakriabá language

Xakriabá (also called Chakriaba, Chikriaba, Shacriaba or Shicriabá)^[1] is an extinct or dormant Akuwẽ (Central Jê) language (Jê, Macro-Jê) formerly spoken in Minas Gerais, Brazil by the Xakriabá people, who today speak Portuguese.^[2] The language is known through two short wordlists collected by Augustin Saint-Hilaire and Wilhelm Ludwig von Eschwege.^[3]: 14

Xakriabá
Native to	Brazil
Region	Minas Gerais
Ethnicity	Xakriabá people
Extinct	1864
Language family	Macro-Jê Jê Cerrado Akuwẽ (Central Jê) Xakriabá
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xkr
Glottolog	xakr1238
ELP	Xakriabá

The last confirmed native speaker of the language died in 1864.^{[citation needed]}

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ	ɨ	u ũ
Mid	e ẽ	ə	o õ
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a ã

• /i/ can also be heard as [ɪ] in shortened positions.

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d
Fricative	voiceless		s	(ʃ)		h
	voiced		z	(ʒ)
Nasal		m	n
Tap			ɾ
Approximant		w		(j)

• Sounds [j] is heard from /i/ before other vowels or within diphthongs.
• Sounds [ʃ ʒ] are heard as allophones of /s z/.
• Sounds [tʃ dʒ ɲ] are heard as allophones of /t d n/ when palatalized before /i/.
• [ɡ] can be heard as an allophone of /k/.^[4]

History

Before 1712, Xakriabá was originally spoken along the São Francisco River near São Romão, Minas Gerais^[5] (Saint-Hilaire 2000: 340-341).^[6] The Xakriabá were then forced to migrate after being defeated by Matias Cardoso de Almeida [pt] and other Paulistas from 1690 onwards. In 1819, Saint-Hilaire (1975: 145)^[7] noted that the Xakriabá of Triângulo Mineiro region spoke a Xerente dialect.^[5]