Lexical evidence for the Macro-Jê–Tupian hypothesis

Andrey Nikulin (Núcleo Takinahakỹ de Formação Superior Indígena, Federal University of Goiás; nikulin@ufg.br)

Journal of Language Relationship, № 21/1-2, 2023 - p.3-56

Abstract: The Macro-Jê and Tupian language families of Eastern South America have long been thought to be distantly related, mainly based on morphological evidence. This article assembles lexical evidence for the Macro-Jê–Tupian hypothesis. Reconstructed Proto-Macro-Jê and Proto-Tupian forms are compared, with special attention to the distribution of the etyma in each family, morphosyntactic behavior of the comparanda, and semantic and phonological plausibility of the proposed etymologies. Although the total number of possible cognates is very limited, the fact that they show recurrent sound correspondences renders the Macro-Jê–Tupian hypothesis promising and worthy of further research.

Keywords: Macro-Jê languages, Tupian languages, comparative method, South American indigenous languages

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