Karajá language

Karajá
Iny rybè
Pronunciation[iˌnə̃ ɾɨˈbɛ]
Native toBrazil
RegionAraguaia River
Ethnicity3,600 Karajá people (2007)
Native speakers
2,700 (2006)
Macro-Jê
  • Karajá
Dialects
  • Northern
  • Southern Karajá
  • Javaé
  • Xambioá
Language codes
ISO 639-3kpj
Glottologkara1500
ELPKarajá

Karajá, also known as Iny rybè,:1 is a Macro-Jê spoken by the Karajá people in some thirty villages in central Brazil.

There are distinct male and female forms of speech; one of the principal differences is that men drop the sound /k/, which is pronounced by women.

Karaja is a verb-final language, with simple noun and more complex verbal morphology that includes noun incorporation. Verbs inflect for direction as well as person, mood, object, and voice.