Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 21, 2026

Oti language

The Otí language, also known as Chavante or Euchavante, is a language isolate or an unclassified language once spoken in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, between the Peixe and Pardo rivers. The language became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. Only a few wordlists are preserved, totaling 110 words.

Last revised
Jun 21, 2026
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Otí
Chavante, Xavante
Otí1
Native toBrazil
RegionState of São Paulo, Paranapanema River basin
EthnicityOtí
Extinctearly 20th century
Language codes
ISO 639-3oti
Glottologotii1244
Map of the Otí language

The Otí language, also known as Chavante or Euchavante, is a language isolate or an unclassified language once spoken in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, between the Peixe and Pardo rivers.2 The language became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. Only a few wordlists are preserved, totaling 110 words.

Classification

Oti is left unclassified by Lyle Campbell due to a paucity of information.3 Greenberg classified Oti as a Macro-Jê language, but he provided almost no supporting data and has not been followed by other researchers.456 Glottolog classifies it as a language isolate.7

History

The Oti were largely exterminated in the late 19th century out of fear that they were Kaingang.8 Nimuendajú estimated that there were some 50 Oti in 1890.9 By 1903, there were only 8, divided between two locations, one a few kilometers east of Indiana and east of Presidente Prudente, between the Peixe and Paranapanema rivers, and one in Platina, some 50 km northwest of Ourinhos. The traditional Oti lands up to 1870 had been located between these two places.10 In 1910, three Oti people remained.11 In 1988, the last Oti died.12

Vocabulary

Only 110 words of Oti were preserved, in a total of three wordlists.13

Nikulin (2020)

Some Otí words given by Nikulin (2020),5: 78–79  cited from Quadros (1892),14 Borba (1908: 73–76),15 and Nimuendajú in Ihering (1912: 8).1 For the original word lists by Quadros (1892) and Borba (1908), see the corresponding Portuguese article.

Portuguese gloss
(original)		 English gloss
(translated)		 Otí
cabeça head ursube; ufúbe
cabelo hair eteche; naôdj
olho eye acli, athli
orelha ear aconxe; acóti; kō's(h)a
nariz nose assondlaibe; sonduái
dente tooth vê; ûa
boca mouth afót
peito chest instúa
mão hand insua
pé foot jube; fum
sangue blood astaete
água water ocochia; kos(h)îa; diélsede
fogo fire iná; achô; úgide
árvore tree tajane
terra earth biroa
pedra stone rátcha
chuva rain chanin; béia
sente-se! sit down! roiábe
deite fora! (?) throw it away! (?) bója
These wordlists are also reproduced in Ihering (1903).16
References

References

  1. Ihering, H. von. A ethnographia do Brazil meridional. Extracto de las Actas del XVII° Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, pág. 250 y siguientes. Buenos Aires: Imprenta de Coni Hermanos, 1912.
  2. Lyle Campbell, 1997. American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195094271
  3. Campbell, Lyle (2012-01-13), Campbell, Lyle; Grondona, Verónica (eds.), "Classification of the indigenous languages of South America", The Indigenous Languages of South America, DE GRUYTER, pp. 59–166, doi:10.1515/9783110258035.59, ISBN 978-3-11-025513-3, retrieved 2025-03-31{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  4. Rodrigues, Aryon D. (1999). "Macro-Jê". In Dixon, Robert M. W.; Aĭkhenvalʹd, A. I︠U︡ (eds.). The Amazonian languages (PDF). Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge, UK ; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-57021-3.
  5. Nikulin, Andrey. 2020. Proto-Macro-Jê: um estudo reconstrutivo. Tese de Doutorado em Linguística, Universidade de Brasília.
  6. Ribeiro, Eduardo Rivail (2012). A grammar of Karajá (phd thesis). Chicago: University of Chicago.
  7. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2026). "Oti". Glottolog 5.3. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  8. Ute Ritz-Deutch, 2008. Alberto Vojtech Fric, the German Diaspora, and Indian Protection in Southern Brazil, 1900–1920
  9. Nimuendajú, Curt 1942. The Šerente. Los Angeles.
  10. Fabre, Alain (2005). Diccionario etnolingüístico y guía bibliográfica de los pueblos indígenas sudamericanos. Edición electrónica (PDF).
  11. Nimuendajú, Curt (1993) [1910]. "O fim da tribo Oti" (PDF). Carta': falas, reflexões, memórias / informe de distribuição restrita do Senador Darcy Ribeiro. 9: 205–211.
  12. CEDI 1991. Oti-Xavante. CEDI 1991: 580–581.
  13. Campbell, Lyle (2024-06-25), "Unclassified and Spurious Languages", The Indigenous Languages of the Americas (1 ed.), Oxford University PressNew York, pp. 280–338, doi:10.1093/oso/9780197673461.003.0005, ISBN 978-0-19-767346-1, retrieved 2026-05-10{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  14. Quadros, F. R. E. Memoria sobre os trabalhos de exploração e observação efetuada pela secção da comissão militar encarregada da linha telegráfica de Uberaba a Cuiabá, de fevereiro a junho de 1889. Revista do Instituto Histórico e Geográfico Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro, v. 55, n. 1, p. 233–260, 1892.
  15. Borba, T. Actualidade Indígena (Paraná, Brazil). Curitiba: Impressora Paranaense, 1908. 171 pp.
  16. von Ihering, Hermann (1903). The Anthropology of the State of São Paulo, Brazil (PDF). São Paulo: Duprat & Comp.
External links