Irántxe, also known as Myʳky or Irántxe-Münkü, is an indigenous language of Mato Grosso, Brazil, spoken in two dialects: Irántxe, in the village of Cravari on the Cravari River, with about 10 fluent speakers among some 280 ethnic Irántxe, and Myʳky, at an isolated settlement near Escondido Creek, where the language remains vigorous among all roughly 80 ethnic Myʳky. It is classified as a language isolate because it bears no demonstrated similarity to other language families; the lexical overlap it shows with Arawakan, Tupian and Nambikwaran languages is attributed to contact rather than common ancestry. UNESCO classifies the language as critically endangered.
Facts
RegionMato Grosso, Brazil (Cravari village on the Cravari River, and an isolated village on Escondido Creek, Brasnorte) 1 Proto-Language StatusAs a language isolate, Irantxe-Myky has no established relatives and no reconstructed proto-language; reported lexical similarities with Arawak, Tupi, Chapakura-Wanam, Nambikwara and Yanomami families are attributed to contact rather than genetic relationship. 1 Partially Attested
Speaker CountCombined total derived from two figures reported in the same source: 10 fluent Irantxe speakers (2006 report) and 80 Myky speakers, all of whom speak the language (as of 2011); no single combined figure is stated directly. In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Irantxe Language
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
Recent descriptions of the language analyze it as a language isolate, in that it "bears no similarity with other language families".
Dialects section
Irántxe dialect: spoken in Cravari village, on the Cravari River (a tributary of the Do Sangue River) in the municipality of Diamantino, Mato Grosso.
Vitality section
As of 2011, there were 80 ethnic Mỹky, all of whom spoke the language.
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