Tuxá (Tusha; also Rodela) was the language of the Tuxá people, who now speak Portuguese and Dzubukuá.
History Carlos Estêvão, the director of the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi in Pará, had collected 14 words of the Tuxá language from Antônio Likaro and Cordorina, two Tuxá caboclos in Rodelas. These were later published by in 1958.
An old pajé (shaman), aged around 90 in 1961, was unable to remember anything of the language which he had used as a child, his mind having been clouded by age and excessive drinking of cachaça. According to Antônio Cirilo dos Santos, a Tuxá man living in Cabrobó, Pernambuco, the language had not been spoken for nearly 100 years by 1961. He remembered that his father had known a few words. Nevertheless, about 30 words could be collected from two women, Maria Dias dos Santos and Maria Inácia Tuxá dos Santos, who had been "excluded" from the tribe and then lived in Juazeiro, Bahia.
Vocabulary Pompeu (1958) Tushá vocabulary collected by Estêvão:Pompeu Sobrinho, Thomaz. 1958. Línguas Tapuias desconhecidas do Nordeste: Alguns vocabulários inéditos. Boletim de Antropologia (Fortaleza-Ceará) 2. 3-19.
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Portuguese gloss (original) !! English gloss (translated) !! Tushá |- | sol || sun || |- | lua || moon || |- | céu || sky || |- | terra || earth || |- | Rio São Francisco || São Francisco River || |- | homem || man || |- | mulher || woman || |- | menino || boy || |- | menina || girl || |- | cabelo || hair || |- | dente || tooth || |- | orelha || ear || |- | cachimbo || smoking pipe || |- | teiú || Tupinambis lizard ||
Meader (1978) In 1961, Wilbur Pickering recorded the following word list in Juazeiro, Bahia from Maria Dias dos Santos. She was in her late fifties as of 1961, and was born in Rodelas, but later moved to Juazeiro.
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Portuguese gloss (original) !! English gloss (translated) !! Tuxá |- | água || water || |- | cabeça || head || |- | cabelo || hair || |- | cachorro || dog || |- | carne || meat || |- | criança (menino) || child (boy) || |- | fogo || fire || |- | fumo || smoke || |- | muitas || many || |- | muitas cabeças || many heads || |- | ovelha || sheep || |- | panela || pan || |- | sol || sun || |- | pessoa suja || dirty person || |- | acangatara || acangatara (type of ceremonial feather headband) || |- | cachaça || cachaça || |- | cachimbo || smoking pipe || |- | chocalho || rattle || |- | deus || God || |- | dinheiro || money || |- | farinha || flour || |- | gado || cattle || |- | melancia || watermelon || |- | negro || black || |- | peba || six-banded armadillo || |- | porco || pig || |- | preá || Brazilian guinea pig || |- | soldado || soldier || |- | tatu || armadillo || |- | trempe || trivet|| |- | urubu || vulture || (?) |- | quem gosta de apreciar o Guarani || who likes to enjoy the Guarani ||
References
(Tuxá wordlist §3.8, p30)