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Irántxe (Irántxe, Iranxe, Iranshe)/iˈrɑːntʃeɪ/, also known asMỹky (Münkü) or still asIrántxe-Münkü, is an indigenous language spoken by the Irántxe (Iránxe, Iranche, Manoki, Munku) and Mỹky (Mynky, Münkü, Munku, Menku, Kenku, Myy) peoples in the state ofMato Grosso inBrazil. Recent descriptions of the language analyze it as alanguage isolate, in that it "bears no similarity with other language families" (Arruda 2003). Monserrat (2010) is a well-reviewed grammar of the language.

According to theUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger, Irántxe-Mỹky is currentlynot thriving. While the Mỹky dialect is considered "vulnerable", the Irántxe variety is deemed "considerably endangered", with only 10 fluent speakers out of the 356 ethnic Irántxe-Mỹky in the 2006 report. As of 2011, the 280 Irántxe have largely assimilated to Brazilian culture. Most are monolingual in Portuguese, and the remaining Irántxe speakers are over 50 years old. A splinter group, the Mỹky, however, moved to escape assimilation, and were isolated until 1971. As of 2011, there were 80 ethnic Mỹky, all of whom spoke the language.

Dialects and location:^[3]

• Irántxe dialect: spoken in Cravari village, on theCravari River (a tributary of theDo Sangue River) in the municipality ofDiamantino, Mato Grosso.
• Mỹky dialect: spoken at an isolated village at the headwaters of the Escondido Creek, in the municipality ofBrasnorte, Mato Grosso state.

Jolkesky (2016) notes that there are lexical similarities with languages from theArawak,Tupi,Chapakura-Wañam,Nambikwara, andYanomamifamilies, likely due to contact.^[4]

An automated computational analysis (ASJP 4) by Müller et al. (2013)^[5] also found lexical similarities between Irántxe-Mỹky andNambikwaran.

Noinstrumental phonetic data pertaining to the Irántxe-Mỹky language is available. The phonological description of Inrátxe-Mỹky is based on auditory analyses by the authors cited.

Irántxe-Mỹky has a smallconsonant inventory.Voicing is notcontrastive for any consonant. In the Monserrat analysis shown in the table, there is a series ofpalatalized stops /pʲ tʲ kʲ/ and nasals /mʲ nʲ/, which reviewer D’Angelis (2011) analyzes as /Cj/ sequences. In Monserrat's analysis, /ʃ/ is a separate phoneme from /sʲ/.

Source:^[6]

• The bilabial /m/ may occur as [mb] word initially, especially among the Irántxe:muhu [mbuhu],mjehy [mbʲɛhɨ].
• The sibilant /s/ is pronounced [ʃ] before /j/.
• The trill /r/ may also occur as [l].
• The palatal approximant /j/ occurs as [ɲ] before nasal vowels.

The vowel inventory of Irántxe-Mỹky is large, with 21 phonemic vowels.Vowel length andnasalization are contrastive in the language. The role oftone is not clear.

In many words, /ə/ alternates with /ɛ/.

The maximalsyllable shape may be CVC or CjVC word-medially, depending on the analysis. Word-finally, only CV ~ CʲV syllables occur.

The linguist Ruth Monserrat, along with native speaker Beth Jurusi, developed a system for spelling the Mỹky dialect.^[3]

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for the Irántxe dialect,^[7] later expanded in Holanda's (1960) largervocabulary list.^[8] The Mỹky words derive from the dictionary compiled by Monserrat.^[3]

gloss	Irántxe[7][8]	Mỹky[3]
one	yamachí	kỹtapy
two	numá	numã
head	pemã	rem
tongue	akirente	jakirẽti
eye	kutakecí	kutaka̱hy
nose	kamínxí	kjamĩhĩ
hand	mimãchxi	mimã
woman	ekipu	namyʼi
man	miʔá	mía
old person	naripú	miptosohu
water	manaː	manã
maize	kuratu	kuratu
cassava	mãinʔin	mỹʼĩ
fish	miaxtapá	miatapa
sun	ileheː	irehy
rain	muhú	muhu
day	máʔá	maʼa
white	nakatá	nakata

Wiktionary has word lists atAppendix:Irántxe word lists

• Meader, R. E. (1967).Iranxe: Notas Grammaticais e Lista Vocabular. (Publicações: Série Diversos Lingüística, 2.) Brasil: Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.
• Monserrat, R. F.; Amarante, E. R. (1995).Dicionário Mỹky-Português. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Sepeei/SR-5/UFRJ.
• Monserrat, Ruth. 2010.A língua do povo Mỹky. Campinas: Editora Curt Nimuendajú.ISBN 9788599944189
• D’Angelis, Wilmar. 2011.Review of Monserrat (2010)Archived 2015-05-12 at theWayback Machine.LIAMES – Línguas Indígenas Ameríndias, vol 10.
• Anonby, Stan. 2009.A Report on the Irántxe and Myky.
• Fabre, Alain. 2005.Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos:Iránxe.[1]
• Arruda, Rinaldo. 2003.Iranxe Manoki. Instituto Socioambiental.
• Dixon & Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (eds.),The Amazonian languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.ISBN 0-521-57021-2.
• Sax, Sarah (2019-09-18)."Only 8 People in This Indigenous Tribe Still Speak Their Native Language. The Amazon Fires May Wipe It Out Completely".Vice.

• Languages of Brazil
• Indigenous languages of South America
• Endangered language isolates
• Language isolates of South America
• Mamoré–Guaporé linguistic area

• Language articles citing Ethnologue 25
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