Naming things in Mundurukú: a profile of conceptual structure of classifiers
- V. 25, N. 2 (2026)
- Submitted: Sep 30, 2025
- Published: Sep 18, 2026
- DOI 10.25189/rabralin.v25i2.2356
Abstract
This article presents the conceptual structure of classifiers in Mundurukú (Tupian), focusing on features relevant to the classification of nouns, such as form, consistency, and material. We describe semantic features preserved from inalienable nouns after the semantic bleaching process, which is responsible for forming classifiers. To investigate this, we conducted a test in which three Mundurukú speakers were asked to create nouns for various objects, presented through pictures from Google Photos. In some cases, more than one picture or even GIFs were shown. The criterion for selecting pictures was that the form or consistency of the object should be evident, making it a strong candidate to be named with a classifier. Some objects were already familiar to the Mundurukú speakers (e.g., lamp, soft drink, pills, cellphone charger), while others were not (e.g., nasal spray, makeup brush, conduit, hang glider, cloche). The goal was to determine whether objects would be named with a classifier and which of the twelve classifiers would be chosen. In addition to describing the conceptual structure of each classifier, the test allowed us to observe and confirm that, in general, classification is a systematic and productive strategy in Mundurukú, grouping nouns into four categories: classified by form, by consistency, by form and consistency, and by form and material.
References
ALLAN, Keith. Classifiers. Language, Washington, vol. 37, n. 2, p. 285-311, 1977.
AIKHENVALD, Alexandra Y. Classifiers: a typology of noun categorization devices. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
COMODO, Cristina Helena Rohwedder. Concordância em Mundurukú. Dissertação de mestrado - Unicamp, 1981.
COSTA, Edilson Pinheiro da. Estudo dos classificadores nominais em Mundurukú (Tupí). Trabalho de Conclusão de Curso - Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, 2022.
COSTA, Edilson Pinheiro da. Mundurukú: semântica e morfossintaxe dos classificadores. Dissertação de Mestrado - Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, 2025.
CROFTS, Marjorie. Gramática Mundurukú. Brasília: Publicações do SIL, 1973.
CROFTS, Marjorie. Aspectos da Língua Mundurukú. Brasília: Publicações do SIL, 1985. [Republicação online, 2004. Disponível em: http://www.silbrasil.org.br/resources/archives/17033].
EPPS, Patience; SALANOVA, Andrés Pablo. The Languages of Amazonia. Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, vol. 11, n. 1, p. 1-28, 2013.
FUNAI – FUNDAÇÃO NACIONAL DO ÍNDIO. Levantamento Etnoecológico Munduruku: Terra Indígena Munduruku. MELO, Juliana; VILLANUEVA, Rosa Elisa. Brasília: FUNAI/PPTAL/GTZ, 2008.
GERDTS, Donna B; HINKSON, Mercedes Q. Salish Numeral Classifiers: A Lexical Means to a Grammatical End. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung (STUF), vol. 57, p. 247-279, 2004.
GIVÓN, Talmy. Syntax: An introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2001.
GOMES, Dioney Moreira. Classificação nominal em Mundurukú: forma, função e tipologia. Liames, p. 7-25, 2009.
GOMES, Dioney Moreira. Estudo morfológico e sintático da língua Mundurukú. Tese de Doutorado - Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, 2006.
GRANDISON, A.; FRANJIEH, M.; GREENE, L.; CORBETT, G. G. Optimal categorisation: the nature of nominal classification systems. Cadernos de Linguística, [S. l.], v. 2, n. 1, p. 393, 2021.
GRINEVALD, Colette. A morphosyntactic typology of classifiers. In: SENFT, Gunter. (Ed.). Systems of nominal classification. Nova Iorque: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
GRINEVALD, Colette. Classifiers, Linguistics of. In: WRIGHT, James D. (Ed.). International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2. ed., vol. 3, Oxford: Elsevier, 2015. P. 811-818.
HACKEN, Pius ten. The Nature of Compoundig. Cadernos de Linguística, vol. 2, n. 1, p. 01-21, 2021.
IBGE – INSTITUTO BRASILEIRO DE GEOGRAFIA E ESTATÍSTICA. Censo Demográfico 2022: Etnias e línguas indígenas: Principais características sociodemográficas: Resultados do universo. Rio de Janeiro: IBGE, 2025.
MATISOFF, James A. Areal and Universal Dimensions of Grammaticalization in Lahu. In: TRAUGOTT, Elizabeth Closs; HEINE, Bernd. (Ed.). Approaches to Grammaticalization. Vol. II, 1991.
MOORE, Denny; GALUCIO, Ana Vilacy ; GABAS JUNIOR, Nilson. Desafio de documentar e preservar línguas. Scientific American Brasil (Edição Especial), v. 3, p. 36-43, 2008.
PASSER, Matthias Benjamin. The typology and diachrony of nominal classification. Netherlands: LOT, 2016.
PICANÇO, Gessiane. Mundurukú: Phonetics, Phonology, Synchrony, Diachrony. 2005. 424 f. Tese (doutorado) – The University of British Columbia, Canadá, 2005.
PICANÇO, Gessiane. Introdução ao Mundurukú: fonética, fonologia e ortografia. Cadernos de Etnolinguística, Série Monografias, 3, 2012.
PICANÇO, Gessiane. Migração urbana e seus impactos na prática linguística dos Mundurukú. Comunicação oral apresentada no X GELIC/III SELA, Macapá, Amapá, 14/abril/2026.
RODRIGUES, Aryon Dall’Igna. Línguas brasileiras: para o conhecimento das línguas
indígenas. São Paulo: Edições Loyola, 1986.
SEIFART, F.; PAYNE, D. L. Nominal classification in the North West Amazon: issues in areal diffusion and typological characterization. International Journal of American Linguistics, Chicago, vol. 73, n. 4, p. 381-387, 2007.
SPEED, L., CHEN, J., HUETTIG, F., & MAJID, A. (2016). Do classifier categories affect or reflect object concepts?. Talk presented at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci 2016). Philadelphia, PA, USA. 2016-08-10 - 2016-08-13.
STORTO, Luciana; COSTA, Jéssica Clementino da. Classificação nominal em línguas Tupi. Revista Moara, Belém, vol. 43, n. 2, p. 5-22, 2015.
VAN DER VOORT, Hein. Sistemas de classificação nominal no Sudoeste amazônico. Revista Moara, Belém, vol. 43, n. 2, p. 5-22, 2015.