Kinship terms: initial reconstructions in Proto-Arara-Ikpeng

Abstract On the genetic classification of the Cariban language family, Meira and Franchetto (2005) propose a branch they term ‘Pekodian’, which includes Bakairi, Arara, and Ikpeng. The latter two languages are on the border of the language-dialect distinction; speakers of both varieties claim to be close relatives and report a reasonable level of mutual intelligibility, and while they can successfully converse, there are occasional comprehension difficulties. Meira and Franchetto used lexical data from only the Bakairi and Ikpeng languages, implicitly assuming that Arara and Ikpeng are co-dialects. The present work compares Arara and Ikpeng kinship terms. In order to obtain a holistic understanding of the differences between these languages we undertake analyses which are both linguistic (comparing the forms of kinship terms) and anthropological (comparing the systems described in existing ethnographies). The language data come from fieldwork conducted in Arara communities by Ana Carolina Ferreira Alves from 2014 to 2017 and in Ikpeng communities by Angela Fabíola Alves Chagas in 2012.