Awetí language
The Awetí or Aweti language is one of the Tupian languages of Central Brazil. Spoken by the indigenous Aweti people that live along the Upper Xingu River, the language is in danger of becoming extinct with a declining 150 living speakers.
Sociolinguistic situation
In 2002 there was a major shift in the Xingu tribe. A group of Aweti people separated from the main village and built their own. Because the family spoke both Aweti and Kamaiura it lessened the amount of Aweti speakers in the main village and it continued to decrease the amount of Aweti speakers in the new village as they began to communicate in Kamaiura only. Because of this many Aweti people only speak Kamaiura today. Most Aweti people are multilingual. Portuguese is the main language of Brazil, so a lot of Aweti people also speak Portuguese, especially the younger generation, since that is what is spoken at school.Name of the language
The language can also be found under the forms Awety, Awetö, Aueto, Aueti, Auiti, Auití and Auetö, and similar variants.The name of the language originates from the ethnonym by which the Awetí are known among neighbouring groups. They call themselves, with the Awetí collective suffix ‑za, and call their own language, Awytyza ti'ingku.
In the writings of the early –German– explorers, the name appears as "Auetö" or "Auetö́".
The was later substituted by, and the, unknown in Portuguese, was substituted by, less frequently by, or sometimes even by or.
Today, the most common designation for the group and their language is Awetí or Aweti. In English, the preferred spelling has an acute accent on the final, so as to encourage a pronunciation with stress on the last syllable, which is how the name is pronounced in Portuguese, including by the Awetí themselves when speaking Portuguese.
Several different spellings of the people and language can be found in the literature. They differ in having one or several of the above changes applied or not applied: –, –''–''–, graphical accent or not, sometimes also the is substituted by. In particular in older and non-Brazilian literature, one finds, for instance: Awetö, Aueto, Aueti, Auiti, rarely also Auetê or even Auety, etc.
Sometimes the Awetí are confused with other central Brazilian groups such as the Arauine and Arauite, both extinct in the beginning of the 20th century.
Phonology
Consonants
/p, k/ may also be lenited as in intervocalic positions.Aweti does not contain voiced stops, however the language does have stress.