Restructuring of Proto-Omagua-Kukama kin terms

Abstract

Abstract This article reconstructs the system of kin terms in Proto-Omagua-Kukama (POK), the ancestral language of the Omagua and Kukama-Kukamiria, and compares it to Tupinambá, a former language of the Brazilian Atlantic coast and their closest relative in the Tupí-Guaraní language family. I identify semantic shifts, analogy-based innovations, calques, and borrowings. I suggest that some of these changes are likely due to concomitant changes in pre-POK social structure. The identification of borrowings is potentially fruitful in determining which languages contributed to the setting that gave rise to POK. Detailed study of the evolution of the divergent grammar and lexicon of POK is crucial to understanding this social and linguistic history.

Keywords

• Kin terms
• Amazonia
• Tupí-Guaraní
• Language contact
• Lexical evolution