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TheKaingang language (also spelledKaingáng) is aSouthern Jê language spoken by theKaingang people of southernBrazil.^[3] The Kaingang nation has about 30,000 people, and about 60–65% speak the language. Most also speakPortuguese.

The Kaingang language is a member of theJê family, the largest language family in theMacro-Jê stock. The Kaingang territory occupies the modern states ofSão Paulo,Paraná,Santa Catarina andRio Grande do Sul (and, until the beginning of the 20th century,Misiones, Argentina). Today they live in around they indigenous lands (similar toNative American reservations), especially in Rio Grande do Sul and Paraná.

In the 1960s, due to a missionary interest conducted by theSummer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), the language was studied byUrsula Wiesemann.^[4]

The Kaingang and Xokleng were previously considered a single ethnicity, which went by a number of names, includingAmhó, Dorin, Gualachi, Chiqui,Ingain, Botocudo, Ivitorocái (= Amho), Kamé, Kayurukré, Tain (= Ingain), Taven. Some of these may have been tribal names; others were exonyms. Those living along the coast at the time of the Conquest were calledGuayaná, and are considered to be the ancestors of the Kaingang.^[5] It is unknown to what extent the names might have corresponded to dialectal differences.

Loukotka (1968) lists the following dialects of Kaingán and related language varieties.^[6]

• Kaingán / Caingang / Camé / Taven / Kaingygn / Coroado / Kadyrukré
  • Central - spoken between theIvaí River andTiquié River,Paraná State
  • Southern or Iñacoré - spoken in the state ofRio Grande do Sul, now in the villages surrounding the cities of Nonohag and Cáceres.
  • Northern - once spoken on theTiete River
  • Eastern / Nhakfáteitei / Yakwändatéye / Guayana de Paranapamena - formerly spoken in the state of São Paulo on theParanapanema River
• Binaré - once spoken on the left shore of theUruguay River in the state ofRio Grande do Sul
• Xiqui - extinct language fromMato Grosso State, once spoken on theSão Francisco River andPiquirí River
• Aweicoma / Bugres / Owaikománg /Xocren - spoken inSanta Catarina State in the hinterland of the cities ofItajaí, Palmas, andBlumenau

Mason (1950) lists the following classification for the Caingang group of languages:^[7]

• Caingang
  • São Paulo (Coroado); Nyacfateitei
  • Paraná
  • Rio Grande do Sul
• Shocleng
• Taven
  • Tain
  • Ingain (Wayana, Guayaná)
    • Patte (Basa)
    • Chowa
    • Chowaca
  • Ivitorocai
  • Gualacho (Coronado)
    • Gualachí
    • Chiki
    • Cabelludo
• Dorin
  • (bands: Jahuateie, Venharo)
  • (moieties: Cayurucré, Votoro, Camó)

Mason (1950) also lists theYabutian languagesAricapú andYabuti as "possibly Caingang."

A large number of allophones map to a set of fourteen phonemes:^[8]

All consonants have varyingallophones depending on their position in the word and on the adjacency of nasal vowels:

• Theoral stops haveprenasalized allophones[ᵐp,ⁿt,ᵑk] when following a nasal vowel. In unstressed syllables,/k/ is furthermore voiced to become[ᵑɡ].
• Theglottal stop/ʔ/ and the non-stop consonants are realized as nasalized[ʔ̃,ɸ̃,ç̃,h̃,w̃,ɹ̃,j̃] preceding nasal vowels.
• The phonemes/b,d,ɟ,ɡ/ are only realized as voiced oral stops between two oral vowels. They are realized as voiced prenasalized stops[ᵐb,ⁿd,ᶮɟ,ᵑɡ] when between a nasal and an oral vowel, as well as word-initially before oral vowels. Between an oral and a nasal vowel they are conversely realized asprestopped[ᵇm,ᵈn,ᶡɲ,ᶢŋ]. Between two nasal vowels, or word-initially before nasal vowels, they are realized as full nasal stops:[m,n,ɲ,ŋ]. The first two types of realization also apply when occurring in the syllable coda and followed by a non-nasal segment; these voiced/prenasalized will however be additionallyunreleased:[⁽ᵐ⁾b̚,⁽ⁿ⁾d̚,⁽ᶮ⁾ɟ̚,⁽ᵑ⁾ɡ̚]. However, by convention these stop-phonemes are always written as⟨m, n, nh, g⟩ in the orthography.
• When preceded by an oral vowel, the sequences/nt,ɲt,ŋk/ can be realized as geminate stops:[tː,cː,kː].
• /ŋ/ is optionally labialized:[ɡʷ,ŋʷ], etc.
• The non-glottal fricatives can word-initially beoptionally realized as affricates[p͡ɸ,c͡ç] (including their nasal allophones:[p͡ɸ̃,c͡ç̃].)
• /w/ can optionally be realized as a voiced bilabial fricative[β], and/j/ as a voiced palatal stop[ɟ]. When nasalized,/j/ varies between[j̃] and[ɲ].
• Word-initially,/ɹ/ is preceded by an epenthetic[ə]; it is[ɾ] in tonic syllables and[l] in atonic syllables, and when nasalized, it varies between[ɾ̃] and[ɹ̃]. As a syllable coda it is a flap when oral and approximant when nasal, and may optionally be palatalized:[ɾʲ],[ɹ̃ᶮ].
• Word-initially in a stressed syllable,/t/ may vary in realization betweendental[t̪] andalveolar[t]. Following palatal consonants or preceding a close vowel, it can also realized as a palatal stop,[c].
• Word initially /ç/ is realized as [c͡ç]^[9]

• Atonic/i/ and/e/ as well as/u/ and/o/ are merged; the former pair to[ɪ], the latter pair to[ʊ].^[11]
• The backness of the unrounded back vowels/ɤ,ʌ,ɑ/ varies between back[ɤ,ʌ,ɑ] and central[ɘ,ɜ,ɐ].^[11]
• All of the oral vowels/i,u,e,ɤ,o,ɛ,ʌ,ɔ,ɑ/ can be realized as voiceless[i̥,u̥,e̥,ɤ̥~ɘ̥,o̥,ɛ̥,ʌ̥~ɜ̥,ɔ̥,ɑ̥~ɐ̥].^{[12][in which environments?]}
• Nasal vowels have the same quality as oral vowels. However,Jolkesky (2009) does npt list a central variant of/ʌ̃/ on his phone chart.^[11]

Wiesemann proposed an alphabet for the language, which is still in use despite some problems.^{[citation needed]} It is based on theLatin script, and consists of fourteen consonants and fourteen vowels, matching the fourteen consonants and fourteen vowels of the Kaingang language.

There are dictionaries and grammars available for Kaingang. A school was set up in 1969 to teach the Kaingang people to read and write their language. However, the school produced many Kaingang speakers who went back to their reservations to teach others and spread the writing innovations they learned. Only one of the dialects is used as the standard written form, though having the writing system provided a source of pride in the language for the Kaingang people. A Kaingang bible has been published, as well as a dictionary and other publications.

Examples of Kaingang writing can be found onOmniglot.^{[better source needed]}

Kaingang makes use ofpostpositions.

• goj: water
• goj ki: in the water

Postpositions are also used to mark subject.

• Mĩg vỹ venhvó tĩ. The jaguar runs.
• Kofá tóg pỹn tãnh. The old man killed the snake.

Kaingang verbs do not inflect.

• rãgró: to plant
• Ti tóg rãgró krãn huri. He planted beans.
• Ẽg tóg rãgró krãn huri. We planted beans.

Loukotka (1968) lists the following basic vocabulary items for Kaingán language varieties.^[6]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKaingang language.

Kaingang language test ofWikipedia atWikimedia Incubator

• Catálogo de Línguas Sul-Americanas: Kaingáng
• Portal Kaingang
• Kaingang phonology and Macro-Ge languages^{[permanent dead link]}
• Comparison of English and Kaingang phrases^{[permanent dead link]}
• Jolkesky, M. P. V. (2006a).Língua, lexicografia e os SILogismos em Kaingang - Português Dicionário Bilingüe. (manuscrito)
• Jolkesky, M. P. V. (2006b).Análise semiótica de um texto Kaingáng. (manuscrito)
• Jolkesky, M. P. V.; Santos, L. C. (2008).Construções relativas restritivas em Kaingáng. Em: S. Telles & A. S. de Paula (orgs.) Topicalizando Macro-Jê, 247-260. Recife: NECTAR.
• Kaingáng (Intercontinental Dictionary Series)

• Analytic languages
• Indigenous languages of the Americas
• Isolating languages
• Jê languages
• Languages of Brazil

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