Lecture | Descriptive Linguistics Seminars
Deontic from Portuguese, Epistemic from Tupi: The Emergence of Modality in Brazil's Línguas Gerais
- Date
- Wednesday 3 June 2026
- Time
- Address
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 1.18
Abstract
Before Portuguese became the most spoken language in Brazil, there was an indigenous language chosen by Jesuits to be used in the missions. Until the 18th century in São Paulo, the most widespread language was not Portuguese, but Tupi. More impressively, in the Amazonia region, Portuguese only became the most spoken language in the 19th century. Until then, interactions with indigenous peoples in the early stages of the colonization of what became Brazil were conducted in Tupi. By cross-referencing historical and geographical data on the spread of the línguas gerais with data collected in fieldwork with the three Amazonian varieties that are still spoken, we show that each língua geral's trajectory is conditioned by specific local factors: (a) the indigenous groups previously present in each region, and (b) the forces driving the language's spread — commerce along the Solimões, interethnic marriage in the Upper Rio Negro and Middle Amazon, or Portuguese territorial expansion in the case of the língua geral used in São Paulo's region. These factors explain both the loss and maintenance of each variety and structural divergence across the varieties, including: In this paper, we focus on the emergence of a modality system in Nheengatu from Upper Rio Negro that uses loanwords from Portuguese for deontic modals and Tupi structures for the epistemic and evidential system. By crossing information on the history of the language and the studies on the grammatical transformations of the language, we show how intensive contact can rebuild a language, particularly, in the modality system that in this case, show to be very sensitive to social changes.
References
- Da Cruz, Aline. 2011. Fonologia e Gramática do Nheengatu: A língua geral falada pelos Baré, Warekena e Baniwa. Utrecht: Lot.
- Da Cruz, Aline. 2015. The rise of number agreement in Nheengatu. Boletim do Museu Goeldi.
- Silva, Raynice; da Cruz, Aline; Lima-Schwade, Micheli. 2024. Variedades do Nheengatu no Amazonas. Goiânia: CEGRAF.