Xavánte
A language of Brazil
| Population | 10,000 (2000 SIL). 7,000 monolinguals. |
| Region | Mato Grosso. 6 noncontiguous reservations, 80 villages. |
| Language map |
Brazil, reference number 104 |
| Alternate names | A’uwe Uptabi, A’we, Akuên, Akwen, Chavante, Crisca, Pusciti, Shavante, Tapacua |
| Classification | Macro-Ge, Ge-Kaingang, Ge, Central, Acua |
| Language use | Vigorous. All domains. All ages. Positive attitude. Some also use Portuguese. |
| Language development | Literacy rate in L1: 10%–30%. Literacy rate in L2: 25%–50% (most men, few women). Xavante teachers of Xavante reading and writing. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 2004. |
| Writing system | Latin script. |
| Comments | In 1950s contact with outsiders began and their diseases killed hundreds. Forced to abandon seminomadic means of survival when placed on reservations. Learned swidden agriculture. During the transition many died. OSV. Hunter-gatherers traditionally; swidden agriculturalists: rice, maize, squash, bananas. Traditional religion, Christian. |
Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:
Academic Publications
BURGESS, Eunice, author. 1971. "Duas análises das sílabas do xavánte."
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BURGESS, Eunice, author. 1986. "Focus and topic in Xavante."
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BURGESS, Eunice, author. 1987. "Foco e tópico em xavánte."
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GRIMES, Joseph E., editor. 1986. Sentence initial devices.
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GRIMES, Joseph E., editor. 1987. Série lingüística.
GUDSCHINSKY, Sarah C., author. 1971. "Ofaié Xavánte, a Jê language."
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HALL, Joan, author. 1979. Xavante profile.
HALL, Joan, author. 1979. Os sistemas fonológicos e gráficos xavante e português: Análise contrastiva.
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HALL, Joan, author. Available: 2009; Created: 1961. Xavante Noun Phrases and Morpheme Classes.
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HALL, Joan; MCLEOD, Ruth; MITCHELL, Valerie, compilers. 2004. Pequeno dicionário: Xavante-Português, Português-Xavante.
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HARRISON, Alec, author. 1990. Language learning tips.
HARRISON, Alec, author. 2001. Xavante morphology and respect/intimacy relationships.
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MCLEOD, Ruth, author. 1970. "Learning Xavante monolingually."
MCLEOD, Ruth, author. 1974. "Fonemas xavánte."
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MCLEOD, Ruth, author. 1974. "Paragraph, aspect and participant in Xavante."
MCLEOD, Ruth, author. 2003. "Learning Xavante monolingually."
MCLEOD, Ruth; MITCHELL, Valerie, authors. 1977. Aspectos da língua xavánte.
PINI'AWĒ, Airton; WI'I, Coronel, authors; HARRISON, Alec, facilitator. 1999. Dahi'rata nhimirowasu'u: duréi wasu'u (Ancient legends of the Xavante people).
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