On the lexical evidence for a genealogical relationship between múra-pirahã and matanawi

This paper shows that the lexical evidence in favor of a genealogical relation between Múra-Pirahã and Matanawi is stronger than so far suspected. It takes into account evidence from the full set of attested doculects making the Múra-Pirahã languoid. And, more importantly, it incorporates informatio...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Carvalho, Fernando Orphão de
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
Repositorio:Revista Liames (Online)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br:article/8677708
Acceso en línea:https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/liames/article/view/8677708
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Múra-Pirahã
Matanawi
Etymology
Relationship hypotheses
Matanawí
Etimologia
Hipótese de parentesco
Etimología
Hipótesis de parentesco
Descripción
Sumario:This paper shows that the lexical evidence in favor of a genealogical relation between Múra-Pirahã and Matanawi is stronger than so far suspected. It takes into account evidence from the full set of attested doculects making the Múra-Pirahã languoid. And, more importantly, it incorporates information about the nature of attested formal mismatches in evaluating the comparative sets that feature Matanawi lexical elements. I identify a series of formal/semantic matches in basic lexical meanings, in addition to pointing out plausible accounts for unmatched formal residue. Some tentative overlapping correspondences that suggest phonetically motivated diachronic splits are discussed as well. In the end, although the case for a relationship between Múra-Pirahã and Matanawí can be more strongly asserted, the very limited nature of the existing documentation of Matanawi probably precludes a more definite validation of the hypothesis.