The rise and fall of approximants in the Tuparian languages

Abstract

This paper addresses the evolution of the approximant series in the languages of the Tuparian branch of the Tupian family, native to the region comprised between the middle course of the Guaporé/Iténez and the headwaters of the Machado/Ji-Paraná (southern Rondônia, Brazil). It is shown that in addition to the approximant series of Proto-Tuparian (which, we argue, comprised *β, *j, *w), some daughter languages created innovative approximants from a variety of sources, such as non-low vowels (*o/*i), post-oralized nasals (*mb/*nd/*ŋg, by the way of *b/*d/*g), and hiatus-filling glides. The evolution of these sounds is discussed in great detail; in particular, we argue that at least some approximants have been historically fortitioned in all Tuparian languages. A special attention is given to the subgrouping of the Tuparian branch.