Rikbaktsa language
| Rikbaktsá | |
|---|---|
| Canoeiro | |
| erigpaksá | |
| Native to | Brazil |
| Region | Mato Grosso |
| Ethnicity | 1,140 Rikbaktsa people (2006) |
Native speakers | 40 (2010) |
Macro-Gê
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | rkb |
| Glottolog | rikb1245 |
| ELP | Rikbaktsá |
Rikbaktsa is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
The Rikbaktsa language, also spelled Aripaktsa, Erikbatsa or Erikpatsa and known ambiguously as Canoeiro, is a language spoken by 40 of the Rikbaktsa people of Mato Grosso, Brazil, that forms its own branch of the Macro-Gê languages, or is a language isolate.
Most Rikbaktsa can speak both Rikbaktsa and Portuguese. Younger individuals tend to speak Portuguese more frequently and fluently than their elders, but older individuals generally struggle with Portuguese and use it only with non-indigenous Brazilians.
Jolkesky (2016) also notes that there are lexical similarities with the Cariban languages.