Kaiwá language

Not to be confused with Kaiwa language (Papua New Guinea).

Kaiwá is a Guarani language 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 with the Pai Tavytera language, and its similarity to its linguistic cousin Guaraní, one of the two national-languages of Paraguay alongside the Spanish language, means it is even sometimes considered mutually intelligible.^[1]

Kaiwá
Kayova
Native to	Argentina, Brazil
Region	Mato Grosso do Sul
Ethnicity	Kaiwá
Native speakers	18,000 (2003)[1]
Language family	Tupian Tupí–Guaraní Guaraní (I) Kaiwá–Paĩ Tavyterã Kaiwá
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kgk
Glottolog	kaiw1246
ELP	Kaiwá
Extent of the Kaiwá language in the northeast Argentine panhandle shown in   teal.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ	ɨ ɨ̃	u ũ
Close-mid	e ẽ		o õ
Open		a ã

• /e/ can also be heard as [ɛ].

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
					plain	lab.
Stop	voiceless	p	t		k		ʔ
	voiced				ɡ	ɡʷ
	prenasal	ᵐb ~ m	ⁿd ~ n	ᶮdʲ ~ ɲ
Fricative		v	s	ʃ			h
Rhotic			ɾ
Approximant				(j)		(w)

• 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/.^[2]

Sample text

Original Kaiwá text:

Eregwata-ramo ka'agwy-rupi erehexa gwa'a. Hagwe pytã porã. Oveve áry-rupi gwa'a. Oveve-ramo, "Kaa! Kaa!" he'i. Heta oĩ gwa'a ka'agwy-rupi.^[3]

Guarani translation:

Reguatáramo ka'aguýre rehecháta gua'a pytã. Hague pytã porã. Oveve yvatetere'i yvágare. Ovevẽro "Kaa! Kaa!" he'i. Heta oĩ gua'a pytã ka'aguýre.

Portuguese translation:^[3]

Quando você passeia no mato, você vê a arara. A plumagem dela é dum vermelho bonito. A arara voa no céu. Quando voa, grita "Kaa! Kaa!" Há muitas araras no mato.

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.