Mura language
Indigenous language of Brazil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mura is a language of Amazonas, Brazil. It is most famous for Pirahã, its sole surviving dialect. Linguistically, it is typified by agglutinativity, a very small phoneme inventory (around 11 compared to around 44 in English), whistled speech, the use of tone, and a very limited, perception-based numeral system. In the 19th century, there were an estimated 30,000–60,000 Mura speakers. It is now spoken by only 300 Pirahã people in eight villages.
Classification
Dialects
Since at least Barboza Rodrigues (1892), there have been three ethnic names commonly listed as dialects of Mura, or even as Muran languages.[2] The names are:[3]
- Bohurá, or Buxwaray, the original form of the name 'Mura'; spoken on the Autaz River[4]
- Pirahã, or Pirahá, Pirahán, the name the remaining dialect goes by
- Yahahí, also spelled Jahahi; spoken on the Branco River (unattested)[4]
On the basis of a minuscule amount of data, it would appear that Bohurá (Mura proper) was mutually intelligible with Pirahã; however, for Yahahí there exists only ethnographic information, and it can be assumed they spoke the same language as other Mura. Rodrigues describes the Yahahí as having come from the Branco river, a tributary of the right bank of the upper Marmelos river. The last Yahahí are said to have joined the Pirahã.[5]
The Mura/Bohurá endonym is Buhuraen, according to Barboza Rodrigues (1892),[5] or Buxivaray ~ Buxwarahay, according to Tastevin (1923).[5] This was pronounced Murá by their neighbors, the Torá and Matanawi. In his vocabulary, Rodrigues lists Bohura for the people and bhũrai-ada "Mura language" for the language, from the Mura of the Manicoré River; Tastevin has Bohurai and bohuarai-arasé for the same.[5] They also record,[5]
- nahi buxwara araha "That one is Mura"
- yane abahi araha buxwarái "We are all Mura"
Vocabulary
Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Mura language varieties.[4]
gloss Múra Bohurá Pirahã one huyiː two mukui head a-pái hana-pai a-paixi ear ku-pái hane-apue apu-pay tooth aro-pái haine-tué atu-pay hand upa hane-uí upai woman yúehẽ kairi yuéhe water pé ipé pé fire foai huai wái stone atí atí begé maize chihuha tihoʔahai chifuä tapir kabachí kabatí kauátei
Below is a comparison of Mura and Pirahã words from Salles (2023):[6]: 959
English gloss Mura Pirahã long peissí piiʔi short kutjúhi koihí big itokúi itohí male foreigner auí aooí female foreigner aurí aogí wild pig bahúis bahóisi louse tihyhí tihíihi flour arais ágaísi tobacco itíhi tíhi leaf itai tai fire uái hoái blood bê bií bone ái aí sleep aitáhus aitáhoi die kwoabís koabaipí drink pitaissa pitáipí stay abaái abí say aihyahá ahoái sun huisí hisó moon kaãnhê kaháíʔái cold arí agí feisty aupís aáopí far kái kaáo bad babihí baábi(hi)
