When the
Portuguese arrived in
Brazil, they found that wherever they went along the vast coast of South America, most of the indigenous peoples spoke similar languages.
Jesuit missionaries took advantage of these similarities, systematizing
common standards then named
línguas gerais ("general languages"), which were spoken in that region until the 19th century. The best known and most widely spoken of these languages was
Old Tupi, a modern descendant of which is still used today by
indigenous peoples around the
Rio Negro region, where it is known as
Nheengatu (), or the "good language". However, the Tupi family also comprises other languages. In the neighbouring Spanish colonies,
Guarani, another Tupian language closely related to Old Tupi, had a similar history, but managed to resist the spread of
Spanish more successfully than Tupi resisted
Portuguese. Today, Guarani has seven million speakers, and is one of the official languages of
Paraguay. The Tupian family also includes several other languages with fewer speakers. These share irregular morphology with the
Je and
Carib families, and Rodrigues connects them all as a
Je–Tupi–Carib family.
Rodrigues & Cabral (2012) Rodrigues & Cabral (2012) list ten branches of Tupian, which cluster into Western Tupian and Eastern Tupian. Within Western and Eastern Tupian, the most divergent branches are listed first, followed by the core branches. •
Tupian • Western Tupian •
Arikém (2 languages) •
Tuparí (6 languages) •
Mondé (6 languages) •
Puruborá •
Ramaráma (Rondônia) (2 languages) • Eastern Tupian •
Yurúna (Jurúna) (3 languages) •
Mundurukú (2 languages) •
Mawé •
Awetï •
Tupi–Guarani (50 languages:
Tupí [extinct],
Guaraní (5 million speakers), etc.) Meira and Drude (2015) posit a branch uniting Mawé and Aweti with Tupi-Guarani, also known as
Maweti-Guarani.
Purubora may form a branch together with
Ramarama.
Jolkesky (2016) Internal classification by Jolkesky (2016): († = extinct) •
Tupi family •
Arikem •
Arikem •
Karitiana •
Monde •
Paiter • Monde, Nuclear •
Monde • Cinta-Larga-Zoro •
Arua •
Cinta-Larga •
Gavião;
Zoro •
Ramarama-Purubora •
Purubora •
Ramarema:
Karo;
Urumi •
Tupari •
Makurap • Tupari, Nuclear • Sakurabiat-Akuntsu •
Akuntsu •
Sakurabiat •
Kepkiriwat •
Tupari •
Wayoro •
Tupi, Nuclear •
Juruna •
Juruna •
Manitsawa •
Shipaya •
Munduruku •
Kuruaya •
Munduruku •
Mawe-Aweti-Tupi-Guarani •
Satere-Mawe • Aweti-Tupi-Guarani •
Aweti •
Tupi-Guarani (see)
Galucio et al. (2015) Galucio et al. (2015) give the following
phylogenetic tree of Tupian, based on a
computational phylogenetic analysis. •
Tupian •
Western (40.6% probability) •
Karo;
Puruborá •
Mondé •
Suruí • Nuclear Mondé •
Salamãy •
Aruá;
Gavião,
Zoró •
Eastern (40.6% probability) •
Arikém •
Karitiána •
Tuparí •
Makuráp • Nuclear Tuparí •
Akuntsú,
Mekéns •
Wayoró,
Tuparí •
Mundurukú •
Mundurukú •
Kuruáya •
Jurúna •
Jurúna •
Xipáya •
Mawetí–Guaraní •
Mawé • Awetí–Guaraní •
Awetí •
Tupí–Guaraní •
Parintintín •
Tapirapé; ''
Urubú-Ka'apór, Paraguayan Guaraní'' ==See also==