Gamela language
Gamela, Curinsi or Acobu, is an unclassified and extinct language of the Maranhão region of Northeastern Brazil. It was originally spoken along the Itapecuru River, Turiaçu River, and Pindaré River, with ethnic descendants reported to be living in Cabo and Vianna in Maranhão State. The Gamela today speak Xavante and Portuguese. The last full-blooded Gamela died around the 1910s, and by 1930 only one old woman still remembered something of the language.
Kaufman said that 'only Greenberg dares to classify this language', due to the lack of data on it.
This is the Gamela language of Viana for which 19 words are recorded in Nimuendajú.
Other varieties
Below are other extinct varieties, many of which have no data, that may have been related to Gamela.- Arañí - once spoken between the Parnaíba River and Itapecuru River
- Puti - once spoken at the mouth of the Poti River
- Anapurú - once spoken on the right bank of the Parnaíba River
- Uruati - extinct language from the mouth of the Munim River, Maranhão
- Cururi - extinct language of the neighbors of the Uruati tribe
- Guanare - once spoken between the Itapecuru River and Parnaíba River
- Coroatá - once spoken on the Itapecuru River, Maranhão
- Guaxina - once spoken at the mouth of the Itapecuru River
- Curinsi - an extinct dialect of the Gamela once spoken near Vianna
- Tacarijú - once spoken on the Longá River in the state of Piauí
Vocabulary
Loukotka gives three words in Gamela:- kokeáto 'pot'
- kyoipé 'tree'
- anéno 'tobacco'