Basic Data

• Name: Mamaindé
• Alternative Names: Nambikuára do Norte, Northern Nambikuára
• Auto-Denomination: Mamainnsitxu, Mamaindé
• Language Classification: Nambikuára, Northern Nambikuára, Mamaindé
• Population: 170+
• Location: Mato Grosso, bordering Rondônia

About the Mamaindé

Two existing (mutually intelligible) dialects exist in two villages two hours drive apart. The Maimande intermarry.

In the Maimande language, the younger generation has developed their own set of suffixes, particularly the person, tense, aspect system. They also do not know many of the roots which were common to the older generation in Peter Kingston's day. This language change has nothing to do with Portuguese—it is an internal change that is being influenced by the generation gap they are experiencing.

Most young men are fairly bilingual. Some women are. Older people and all children speak only the language.

Publications

Eberhard, David, 2006, Mamaindé/Latundé Comparative Word List (42 kB).

Kenstowicz, Michael, Mamaindé stress: the need for strata (Review, 86 kB. To purchase the book from SIL International, click here).

Kingston, Peter K. E. 1976, Sufixos Referenciais e o Elemento Nominal na Língua Mamaindé (in Portuguese, 238 kB) Série Lingüística Nº 5: 31-82.