Ofayé language

Ofayé
Opaye
Ofayé
Pronunciation[əfajɛ]
Native toBrazil
RegionMato Grosso do Sul
Ethnicity61 Ofayé people (2012)
Native speakers
3 (2025)
Revivaleffort underway
Macro-Jê
  • Ofayé
Dialects
  • Guachi (Vaccaria)
Language codes
ISO 639-3opy
Glottologofay1240
ELPOfayé
Map of Ofayé among the Macro-Jê languages
Ofayé is classified as Critically Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

The Ofayé or Opaye language, also Ofaié-Xavante, Opaié-Shavante, is a Macro-Jê language spoken in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, forming an independent branch of the language family. It is spoken by only three of the Ofayé people, though language revitalization efforts are underway.

Documentation

Grammatical descriptions have been made by the Pankararú linguist Maria das Dores de Oliveira (Pankararu), as well as by Sarah C. Gudschinsky and Jennifer E. da Silva, from the Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul.

Geographical distribution

It was spoken on the Ivinhema River, Pardo River, and Nhandú River in Mato Grosso do Sul. Guachi, spoken on the Vacaria River in Mato Grosso do Sul, is a dialect.

Language contact

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with the Macro-Mataguayo-Guaykuru languages due to contact.

Phonology

The consonantal inventory of Ofayé is as follows.: 40 

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Postalveolar/
palatal		 Velar Labio-velar Glottal
Nasal n
Stop voiceless t tʃ k kʷ ʔ
voiced d dʒ g
Fricative ɸ ʃ h
Oral sonorant ɾ j w

The vowel inventory of Ofayé is as follows.: 42 

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i ĩ
Close-mid e ẽ ə o õ
Open-mid ɛ
Open a ã

References

  1. 1 2 Ofayé at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ Comunicação, Grupo Agitta de. "A língua que resiste: o reencontro dos Ofaié com sua voz ancestral - Hojemais de Três Lagoas MS". www.hojemais.com.br (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2026-03-19.
  3. 1 2 3 Oliveira, Maria das Dores de (2006). Ofayé, a língua do povo do mel: fonologia e gramática (Ph.D. dissertation). Maceió: Universidade Federal de Alagoas.
  4. ↑ Gudschinsky, Sarah C. (1974). "Fragmentos de Ofaié: a descrição de uma língua extinta". Série Lingüística. 3: 177–249.
  5. ↑ Loukotka, Čestmír (1968). Classification of South American Indian languages. Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center.
  6. ↑ Jolkesky, Marcelo Pinho de Valhery (2016). Estudo arqueo-ecolinguístico das terras tropicais sul-americanas (Ph.D. dissertation) (2 ed.). Brasília: University of Brasília.