Kỳikatêjê dialect

Kỳikatêjê or Kyikatêjê is a dialect of Pará Gavião, a Jê language of Brazil. It spoken by the Kỳikatêjê people in Terra Indígena Mãe Maria (Bom Jesus do Tocantins, Pará). Almost all speakers are over 40 years old; the younger generations have shifted to Portuguese. Kỳikatêjê is closely related to the Parkatêjê dialect, spoken by another Timbira group in the same reservation.

Kỳikatêjê
Native to	Brazil
Region	Pará
Ethnicity	Kỳikatêjê
Native speakers	9 (?) (2015)
Language family	Macro-Jê Jê Cerrado Jê of Goyaz Northern Jê Timbira Pará Gavião Kỳikatêjê
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Phonology

Consonants

The consonantal inventory of Kỳikatêjê is as follows.

	labial	alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
plosive	p	t	tʃ	k
fricative					h
nasals	m	n
oral sonorants	w	ɾ	j

The stops /p k t/ are sometimes phonetically aspirated in coda: /pɨtit/ [pɨˈtitʰ] ‘one’. The approximant /j/ surfaces as [ʒ] preceding one of /ɨ̃ ĩ/, as in /mpɔ-jĩ/ [mpɔˈʒĩ] ‘meat’, /pa mũ jɨ̃/ [pamũˈʒɨ̃] ‘I sat down’. /n/ is optionally assimilated to [ŋ] before /k/, as in [ĩnkɾiˈɾɛ] ~ [ĩŋkɾiˈɾɛ] ‘small’. The voiced labial fricative and the glottal stop [ʔ] have been attested in one word each, [kuβeneˈɾɛ] ‘bird’ and [aʔə̃ˈɾɛ] ‘hen’.

Available complex onsets include /pɾ kɾ mp/ (and possibly others). The maximum syllable in Kỳikatêjê is /CCVC/.

Vowels

The vowel inventory of Kỳikatêjê is as follows.

Oral				Nasal
i	ɨ	u		ĩ	ɨ̃	ũ
e	ə	o		ẽ	ə̃	õ
ɛ	ɜ	ɔ
	a