Tupi language
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9.9
- noun
- The Tupi language has many unique words that reflect the culture of the Tupi people.
Examples
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After the first scene, almost the entire film is spoken in the Tupi language, with subtitles in Portuguese.
Academic text (2000) -
In the Tupi language, the word for 'friend' also means 'brother'.
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Studying the Tupi language allows us to better understand the traditions of Brazil's indigenous peoples.
Synonyms
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9.9
A language spoken by native people in Brazil and Paraguay
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is a simple, compositional combination of a proper name and the noun 'language' — 'Tupi' identifies the people/group and 'language' denotes their speech, so the meaning 'the language spoken by the Tupi people' follows directly. This proper-name + language pattern is cross-linguistically common and would be immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Tupi language: The name Tupi language comes from the Tupi people who lived along the coast of Brazil. When Portuguese sailors met them, they learned many words and called their speech the Tupi language, so today the phrase means 'the language spoken by the Tupi people'.