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The Asurini language belongs to the Tupi-Guarani
language family, classified, according to the linguist
Aryon Rodrigues (1984), in subset V, to which the Kayabi
language also belongs. Velda Nicholson, of the SIL (International
Linguistics Society, formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics),
has studied the language of the Asurini of the Tocantins
River and compared it with the language of the Asurini
of the Xingu (1982), demonstrating similarities and differences
in phonology, and morphological and grammatical rules.
In 1998, Ruth Monserrat, of the Museu Nacional
(Rio de Janeiro), with the assistance of the Little
Sisters of Jesus, a missionary order, and support of
the Indigenist Missionary Council (CIMI), published
an Asurini grammar which is currently being utilized
by teachers in the school of Koatinemo village. Thus,
all Asurini speak their language, while all those less
than 40 years of age are bilingual.
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