Linguistic reconstruction of kinship terms in Proto-Tupi

• Grant number: 25/24870-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: December 01, 2025
• End date: January 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Linguistics - Historical Linguistics
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Raccanello Storto
• Grantee: Agatha Alves Bonelli
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 24/17181-2 - Subsidies for the installation of the Indigenous Documentation Center - actions by the Museum of Archaelogy and Ethnology, AP.ESP

Abstract

This research project aims to reconstruct kinship terms from the ten branches of the Tupi linguistic trunk, tracing the genetic relationships between these peoples and subsequently providing further theoretical support for the hypotheses of the Proto-Tupi kinship system regarding Dravidian, avuncular, and amital marriages, as well as features of the onomastic system already found in some Tupi branches. To this end, the comparative method of linguistic reconstruction will be used, based on terms already collected in ethnographies of the studied peoples, in addition to the collection of undocumented terms. At the end of the research, the results are expected to contribute to a better understanding of the history of Brazilian indigenous peoples, their trajectories, and their exchanges over thousands of years.