Nheengatú and Portuguese/Lexical Selection

nhe → por

One-to-many mapping

"Nheenga"

Lexical item

Nheenga.

Equivalence in Portuguese

1. "Palavra" ("word") 2. "idioma", "língua" ("language")

Disambiguation generalization

"Nheenga" most likely will have the meaning of "língua" when there is an instance of the verb "purungitá" ("speak") in the sentence. Additionally, chances are this should be the ideal translation if "nheenga" is associated with the genitive case (check examples below for further detail) or is followed by "rupi" (preposition "in" used with languages.) "Palavra," therefore, should be the general case, associated with other verbs related to speech and language management, such as "nheẽ" ("to say") and "mupinima" ("to write.")

Examples

"Nheenga" meaning "língua"

1. Aikué miraitá upurungitá uaá amu nheengaitá São Gabriel upé: Baniua, Tukano, Desana, Ianomámi
   
2. Renheẽ kariua nheenga rupi.

"Nheenga" meaning "palavra"

1. Maria unheẽ nheengaitá puranga Pedro supé.
2. Renheẽ kuá nheenga nheengatu rupi.