Kukurá language
Spurious Brazilian language, invented 1901
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kukurá (Cucurá, Kokura) is a spurious language, fabricated by an interpreter in Brazil and supposedly spoken in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
-
Fraud
- Kukurá
| Kukurá | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Guzmán |
| Date | 1901 |
| Setting and usage | Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil |
| Purpose | Constructed language
|
| Sources | Guaraní (partially) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | kuku1286 (retired) |
History
When Alberto Vojtěch Frič visited Rio Verde, Brazil, in 1901 he took with him a Kainguá man named Guzmán who said he spoke the language of the local Chavante people. A word list was subsequently published for the so-called Kukurá language, thought to be an isolate, in 1931.[1]
In 1932 Curt Nimuendajú, who had visited the Rio Verde in 1909 and 1913, showed that Guzmán's wordlist consisted half of fake words and half of mispronounced Guaraní.[2] There was no resemblance to the Ofayé language that was actually spoken in the region.[3] Guzmán had also falsified other vocabularies for which he was the informant.[4]
