You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Portuguese. (March 2025)Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Portuguese article. Machine translation, likeDeepL orGoogle Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consideradding a topic to this template: there are already 540 articles in themain category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. Youmust providecopyright attribution in theedit summary accompanying your translation by providing aninterlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary isContent in this edit is translated from the existing Portuguese Wikipedia article at [[:pt:Prototupi]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template{{Translated|pt|Prototupi}} to thetalk page. For more guidance, seeWikipedia:Translation.

Proto-Tupian (PT) is thereconstructed common ancestor of all theTupian languages. It consists, therefore, of a hypothetical language, reconstructed by thecomparative method from data of the descendant languages.

InBrazil, Tupian historical-comparative studies are being developed mainly by two scientific teams: one from the Laboratório de Línguas Indígenas (LALI) of theUniversity of Brasília, under the coordination ofAryon Rodrigues; and the other one from theMuseu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, located inBelém, under the orientation ofDenny Moore. These studies provide evidence about the Proto-Tupian economy and culture, suggesting, for example, that they hadagriculture.^[1]

The most accepted theory is that the Tupian language family originated between theGuaporé andAripuanã rivers, in theMadeira River basin. There are currently 70 Tupian languages, includingTupi,Paraguayan Guarani,Awetï,Ayvu, etc.

Rodrigues (2007) considers the Proto-Tupianlinguistic homeland to be somewhere between theGuaporé andAripuanã rivers, in theMadeira River basin. Much of this area corresponds to the modern-day state ofRondônia, Brazil. Five of the ten Tupian branches are found in this area, as well as someTupi–Guarani languages (especiallyKagwahiva), making it the probable linguistic homeland of these languages and maybe of the peoples that traditionally speak them. Rodrigues believes that Proto-Tupian dates back to around 5000BP.

O'Hagan (2014)^[2] proposes that Proto-Tupi-Guarani was spoken in the region of the lowerTocantins andXingu Rivers. Proto-Omagua-Kokama then expanded up theAmazon River, Proto-Tupinamba expanded south along the Atlantic coast, and the Southern branch expanded up along the Tocantins/Araguaia River towards theParaná River basin.

Proto-Tupian is reconstructed with the following phonology:

This section lists Proto-Tupían reconstructions from Rodrigues and Cabral (2012). Since the reconstructions are highly tentative, the Proto-Tupían forms are all marked by two asterisks.^[3]

For a list of Proto-Tupian reconstructions by Nikulin (2020),^[4] see the correspondingPortuguese article.

Proto-Tupian independent nouns:^[3]: 511

Proto-Tupian dependent nouns:^[3]: 511

Proto-Tupian verbs, affixes, and other parts of speech:^[3]: 527

Proto-Tupían cultural vocabulary (Rodrigues and Cabral 2012):^{[3]: 562–563}

Proto-Tupian	Gloss
**up	'father'
**čɨ	'mother'
**čɨʔɨt	'mother's sister'
**amõj	'grandfather'
**aʔɨt	'man's son'
**memɨt	'woman's child'
**men	'husband'
**atʔɨ	'wife'
**ike	'man's older brother'
**kɨpʔɨʔɨt	'man's younger brother'
**kɨpwɨt	'woman's brother'
**wamu(ã)	'shaman'
**ekw	'house'
**ekwen	'door'
**tʔap	'thatch'
**upap	'lying place'
**eɾĩ	'hammock'
**acoʔi	'to cover'
**ekwat	'village patio'
**ŋo ~ ŋe	'cultivated field'
**čɨt	'digging stick'
**mani	'manioc'
**awa(i)	'yams (Dioscorea sp.)'
**wetjɨk	'sweet potato'
**kuɾua	'pumpkin'
**pe	'tobacco'
**ɾjuku	'achiote (Bixa orellana)'
**ɨʔa	'calabash'
**ekwʔɨp	'arrow'
**wekeʔa	'fish trap'
**wɨ	'ax'
**ɨɾju	'basket'
**čʔam	'rope'
**waʔẽ	'ceramic pot'
**čɨt	'to bake'
**wɨp	'to bake, to cook'
**mõj	'to cook'
**eʔe	'to grate'
**čekw	'to pound'

• Apapocuva
• Indigenous languages of the Americas
• Languages of Brazil
• Lingua Geral
• List of Spanish words of Indigenous American Indian origin

• Lyle Campbell (21 September 2000).American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford University Press. pp. 199, 201.ISBN 978-0-19-534983-2.
• Spike Gildea (1998).On Reconstructing Grammar: Comparative Cariban Morphosyntax. Oxford University Press. pp. 5, 53, 86, 88.ISBN 978-0-19-510952-8.
• Rik van Gijn; Jeremy Hammond (15 October 2016).Switch Reference 2.0. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 15–16.ISBN 978-90-272-6677-4.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
• Rodrigues, Aryon Dall'Igna (2007). "As consoantes do Proto-Tupí". In Ana Suelly Arruda Câmara Cabral, Aryon Dall'Igna Rodrigues (eds).Linguas e culturas Tupi, p. 167-203. Campinas: Curt Nimuendaju; Brasília: LALI.

• Tupian languages
• Proto-languages

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