Indian languages Indian nations What's new on our site today!

Kanoe Indian Language (Kapixana, Kanoé, Canoé)

Language: Kanoe is an indigenous language of South America. It is still spoken by only a few tribal elders in Brazil, as the surviving population of the small tribe has shifted to Portuguese. Kanoe is considered to be a language isolate, unrelated to any other neighboring language of Brazil.

Names: The people originally called themselves Kapixana or Guarategaya. Kanoê is the Portuguese name for the tribe, named after the canoes used by tribal members. Though the word "canoe" does have indigenous origins, it comes from a completely different language family, the Caribs, and doesn't mean anything in the Kapixana language. However, since most of the people speak Portuguese now, the name Kanoê has become common and is used as a surname by many natives of the tribe today. Alternate spellings of these names include Kanoe, Kanoé, Canoê, Canoe, Kapixaná , Kapixanã, Kapishana, Kapishaná, and Guarategaja.

Because of their generic name in Portuguese, the Kanoe have often been confused with other river-going tribes the Portuguese referred to as canoe people, such as the Ava-Canoeiro and Rikbaktsa. These tribes are also sometimes referred to as "Kanoes" in texts, but none of their languages are related to each other at all (Ava is a Tupi-Guarani language, and Rikbaktsa belongs to the Macro-Ge family.)

Kanoe Language Resources

Kanoé:
Linguistic chart of phonemes in the Kanoe language.

Kanoê language:
Wikipedia article on the Kanoe language.

Guarategaya/Kanoe Language Tree:
Theories about Kanoe's language relationships compiled by Linguist List.

Lengua Kapishaná:
Information about the Kanoe language in Spanish.

OLAC: Kanoé:
Reference list of Kanoe language materials.

Endangered Languages Project: Kapixaná:
Bibliography of Kapixana/Kanoe language resources.

Kanoe Culture and History Links

Language Map of Western Central Brazil:

Language Families of Rondonia:
Maps showing the location of the Kanoe and other tribes of Brazil.

Indigenous Peoples in Brazil: Kanoê:
Ethnography of the Kanoe tribe, with photographs,

Corumbiara: They Shoot Indians, Don't They?:
Video documentary about the persecution of the Akuntsu and Kanoe tribes.

Links, References, and Additional Information

  Kanoê Tribe:
   Encyclopedia articles about the Canoe people.
  Povo Kanoe

Os kanoê:
Information about the Kanoe tribe and their language in Portuguese.

Back to our Native American Peoples index
Back to the Languages of the Amazon

Native Languages

Native American pottery Indian stories Indian names

Would you like to sponsor our work on the Kanoe Indian language?