Mura language

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, and the use of tone. 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

Mura is often proposed to be related to Matanawí.Template:By whom Kaufman (1994) also suggests a connection with Huarpe in his Macro-Warpean proposal.

Dialects

Since at least Barboza Rodrigues (1892), there have been three ethnic names commonly listed as dialects of Mura, or even as Muran languages. The names are:

• Bohurá, or Buxwaray, the original form of the name 'Mura'; spoken on the Autaz River
• Pirahã, or Pirahá, Pirahán, the name the remaining dialect goes by
• Yahahí, also spelled Jahahi; spoken on the Branco River (unattested)

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.

The Mura/Bohurá endonym is , according to Barboza Rodrigues (1892), or ~ , according to Tastevin (1923). 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. They also record,

"That one is Mura"

"We are all Mura"

Vocabulary

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Mura language varieties.

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):Template:Rp

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)

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.
• Everett, D. L. (1992). A língua Pirahã e a teoria da sintaxe: descrição, perspectivas e teoria. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp.
• Hanke, W. (1950a). O idioma Mura. Arquivos: Coletânea de documentor para a História da Amazônia, 12:3-8.
• Hanke, W. (1950b). Vocabulário e idioma mura dos índios mura do rio Manicoré. Arquivos, 12:3-8.
• Heinrichs, A. (1961). Questionário: Mura-Pirahã Rio Marmelos. (Questionário dos Vocabulários Padrões para estudos comparativos preliminares de línguas indígenas brasileiras.) Rio de Janeiro: Museu Nacional.
• Heinrichs, A. (1963). Questionário: Mura-Pirahã Rios Marmelos e Maici. (Questionário dos Vocabulários Padrões para estudos comparativos preliminares de línguas indígenas brasileiras.) Rio de Janeiro: Museu Nacional.
• Curt Nimuendajú (1948): "The Mura" and "The Yahahi", in Handbook of South American Indians, Volume 3: The Tropical Forest Tribes, ed. Julian H. Steward, pp. 255–269.

External links

• PROEL: Grupo Muran