Tenharim language

Tenharim
Tenharim
Tenharin
Native to	Brazil
Region	Amazonas
Ethnicity	Tenharim
Native speakers	350 (2024)
Language family	Tupian Tupí–Guaraní Kawahib (VI) Tenharim; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	pah
Glottolog	nucl1663
ELP	Tenharín
Linguasphere	88-AAG-aa
	Tenharim is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Tenharim (Tenharin) is one of the dialects of the Kawahíva language, one of the Tupian languages and spoken in western Brazil by the Tenharim. It is the only remaining dialect still transmitted to children.

Geographical distribution

The Tenharim reside in three Indigenous territories (TIs), Tenharim/Marmelos, Tenharim of Igarapé Preto and Sepoti, within the village of Marmelos, Vila Nova, Bela Vista, Tracoá, Campinho, Taboca, Mafuí, Castanheira Jacuí, Pakyri, and Caranaí in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Only in Tenharim Marmelos is the language being learned by children as a first language, who attend school and are educated in the Tenharim language; this approach has been described as "successful", though education in Tenharim is restricted to elementary school.

History

Language contact

Along with Nheengatu, Tenharim has been proposed to be the source of personal pronouns in the Pirahã language. The idea that Pirahã borrowed its pronoun system from a Tupian language was first brought forward by Brazilian linguist Aryon Rodrigues.

Pirahã and Tenharim pronouns
gloss	Pirahã		Tenharim
gloss	Phonemic	Phonetic	Phonetic
first person	/ti/	[t͡ʃi]	[d͡ʒi]
second person	/gi/, /gia/	[nɪ], [nɪʔa]	[nde], [ne]
third person	/hi/	[hɪ]	[ahe] 'people', 'person now dead'
third person feminine	/ʔi/		[hea]
third person non-human	/ʔis/

Documentation

Tenharim, along with other dialects of Kawahíva, was documented by Helen Pease and LaVera Betts, missionaries with the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) from the 1960s to the 1980s. The two produced a pandialectal dictionary of Kawahíva, as well as a number of texts, mainly in Tenharim.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants^: 74
	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar		Glottal
	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	plain	labial	Glottal
Obstruent	p	t	t͡ʃ	k	kʷ	ʔ
Fricative						h
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ŋʷ
Approximant	ʋ	ɾ	j		w

Vowels

Vowels^: 100
	Front		Back
	Front		unrounded		rounded
	oral	nasal	oral	nasal	oral	nasal
High	i	ĩ	ɨ	ɨ̃	u	ũ
Non-high	e	ẽ	a	ã	o	õ

Notes

↑ Pronouns given are in free form and in the ergative case
↑ Masculine reference occurs with this pronoun when contrasted with /ʔi/
1 2 Pronoun not used in isolation

References

1 2 3 4 5 Nascimento dos Santos, Wesley (2024). Topics on the syntax of Kawahíva: A Tupí-Guaraní language from the Brazilian Amazon (Thesis). UC Berkeley.
↑ Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010.
1 2 Nascimento dos Santos, Wesley (2024-09-18). "Kawahíva (Brazil) – Language Snapshot". Language Documentation and Description Volume 24 Issue 1 2024. doi:10.25894/LDD.2549. ISSN 2756-1224.
1 2 Thomason, Sarah G.; Everett, Daniel L. (2001-06-22). "Pronoun Borrowing". Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. 27 (1): 301. doi:10.3765/bls.v27i1.1107. ISSN 2377-1666.
1 2 Marçoli, Osmar (2018-03-23). Estudo comparativo dos dialetos da língua Kawahib (Tupi-Guarani) Tenharim, Jiahui e Amondawa (Mestre em Linguística thesis) (in Portuguese). Campinas, SP: Universidade Estadual de Campinas. doi:10.47749/t/unicamp.2018.1020711.

[5] Pronouns given are in free form and in the ergative case

[6] Masculine reference occurs with this pronoun when contrasted with /ʔi/

[renamed_from_1_on_20260716054921-7] 1 2 Pronoun not used in isolation

[:1-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Nascimento dos Santos, Wesley (2024). Topics on the syntax of Kawahíva: A Tupí-Guaraní language from the Brazilian Amazon (Thesis). UC Berkeley.

[2] Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger (Report) (3rd ed.). UNESCO. 2010.

[:2-3] 1 2 Nascimento dos Santos, Wesley (2024-09-18). "Kawahíva (Brazil) – Language Snapshot". Language Documentation and Description Volume 24 Issue 1 2024. doi:10.25894/LDD.2549. ISSN 2756-1224.

[:0-4] 1 2 Thomason, Sarah G.; Everett, Daniel L. (2001-06-22). "Pronoun Borrowing". Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society. 27 (1): 301. doi:10.3765/bls.v27i1.1107. ISSN 2377-1666.

[:3-8] 1 2 Marçoli, Osmar (2018-03-23). Estudo comparativo dos dialetos da língua Kawahib (Tupi-Guarani) Tenharim, Jiahui e Amondawa (Mestre em Linguística thesis) (in Portuguese). Campinas, SP: Universidade Estadual de Campinas. doi:10.47749/t/unicamp.2018.1020711.