Native to Brazil Native speakers 170 (2011) ISO 639-3 awe | Ethnicity Aweti people Language family Tupian
Aweti Glottolog awet1244 | |
The Aweti language also known as Awety, Awetö, Aueto, Aueti, Auiti, Arauite, Arauine, Auití and Auetö is one of the Tupian languages of Central Brazil. Spoken by the indigenous people that live along the Upper Xingu River, the language is in danger of becoming extinct with a declining 150 living speakers. The Aweti people live in a multilingual area due to various indigenous people settling there from various regions. In search of refuge many people have relocated to the reserve as a result of European colonialism.
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General Information
In 2002 there was a major shift in the Xingu tribe. A group of Aweti people separated from the main village and built their own. Because the family spoke both Aweti and Kamaiura it lessened the amount of Aweti speakers in the main village and it continued to decrease the amount of Aweti speakers in the new village as they began to communicate in Kamaiura only. Because of this many Aweti people only speak Kamaiura today. Most Aweti people are multilingual. Portuguese is the main language of Brazil so a lot of Aweti people also speak Portuguese especially the youger generation since that is what is spoken at school.
Consonants
Aweti does not contain voiced stops, however the language does have stress. s and ʃ are replaced with tʃ and the long v occurs phonetically opposed to other South American languages.
Vowels
All vowels are used in Aweti.
Lexicality
Subordination plays a big role in Aweti speech and text. Nominal modification and predicate complementation are used through subordinatory phrases.