Xakriabá language
# Xakriabá language

Xakriabá (also written Chakriaba, Chikriaba, Shacriaba) is an extinct or dormant Akuwẽ (Central Jê) language (Jê, Macro-Jê) formerly spoken in Minas Gerais, Brazil by the Xakriabá people, who today speak Portuguese. The language is known through two short wordlists collected by Augustin Saint-Hilaire and Wilhelm Ludwig von $Eschwege.^{:14}$

The last confirmed native speaker of the language died in 1864.

## Phonology

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| - | - | - | - |
| Close | i ĩ | ɨ | u ũ |
| Mid | e ẽ | ə | o õ |
| Open-mid | ɛ | | ɔ |
| Open | | a ã | |

* /i/ can also be heard as [ɪ] in shortened positions.

### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | | k | |
| Stop | voiced | b | d | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | | s | (ʃ) | | h |
| Fricative | voiced | | z | (ʒ) | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | | |
| Tap | Tap | | ɾ | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | w | | (j) | | |

* Sounds [j] is heard from /i/ before other vowels or within diphthongs.
* Sounds [ʃ ʒ] are heard as allophones of /s z/.
* Sounds [tʃ dʒ ɲ] are heard as allophones of /t d n/ when palatalized before /i/.
* [ɡ] can be heard as an allophone of /k/.

## History

Before 1712, Xakriabá was originally spoken along the São Francisco River near São Romão, Minas Gerais (Saint-Hilaire 2000: 340-341). The Xakriabá were then forced to migrate after being defeated by Matias Cardoso de Almeida [pt] and other Paulistas from 1690 onwards. In 1819, Saint-Hilaire (1975: 145) noted that the Xakriabá of Triângulo Mineiro region spoke a Xerente dialect.

