Kaiwá is a Tupi–Guarani spoken by about 18,000 Kaiwá people in Brazil in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul and 510 people in northeastern Argentina. Literacy is 5-10% in Kaiwá and 15–25% in Portuguese. Kaiwá proper is 70% lexically similar to the Pai Tavytera language, and its similarity to its linguistic cousin Guarani, one of the two national-languages of Paraguay alongside the Spanish language, means it is even sometimes considered mutually intelligible.
Phonology Vowels FrontCentralBackClose Close-mid Open
/e/ can also be heard as .
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalplainlab.Stopvoicelessvoicedprenasal ~ ~ ~ FricativeRhoticApproximant()()
Prenasalized stops can also be heard as nasal sonorants. [w] is heard as an allophone of /v/ or /u/. [j] is heard as an allophone of /i/.
Sample text
Original Kaiwá text:
Te'ýi nhe'ẽ. 5 Cartilha Kaiwá, pg 2.
Guarani translation:
Portuguese translation:
Rough English translation:
When you walk in the bush, you see the macaw. The plumage is a beautiful red. The macaw flies in the sky. When it flies, it shouts "Kaa! Kaa!" There are many macaws in the bush.
Notes
Bibliography Summer Institute of Linguistics (1980) Te'ýi nhe'ẽ. 5 Cartilha Kaiwá, SIL, Brasilia, DF.