Diversity
Among the approximately 180 Indian languages spoken in Brazil today,
some have more similarities with each other than with others, which
reveals common origins and diversification processes that took place
over the years.
Experts on the knowledge of languages (linguists) express the similarities
and differences among them through the idea of linguistic branches and
families. Branches mean languages whose common origins are very old,
and the similarities among them are very subtle. Among the languages
of the same family, on the other hand, the similarities are greater,
which is the result of a separation that took place not so long ago.
See the example of the Portuguese language:
Source: Raquel F. A. Teixeira - "As línguas
indígenas no Brasil" . In: A temática indígena
na escola - novos subsídios para professores de 1º e 2º
graus, Brasília: MEC/ Mari/ Unesco, organized by Aracy Lopes
da Silva and Luís Donisete Benzi Grupioni).
In the universe of Indigenous tongues in Brazil, there are two large
branches - Tupi and Macro-Jê - and 19 linguistic families that
do not have enough similarities to be grouped into branches. There are
also families with a single tongue, sometimes called ‘isolated
languages’, because they have no similarity with any other known
language.
Very few Indigenous tongues have been studied in detail in Brazil.
For that reason, the knowledge that exists about them is constantly
revised.
Get to know the Brazilian Indigenous tongues, grouped in families and
branches, according to the classification made by Professor Ayron Dall’Igna
Rodrigues. It is a revision especially made for ISA in September of
1997 of the information published in his book Línguas brasileiras
– para o conhecimento das línguas indígenas (São
Paulo, Edições Loyola, 1986, 134 pages).
![](/web/20080311075135im_/http://www.socioambiental.org/pib/portugues/i/s.gif"){kind=small}
