Creating A Munduruku Orthography

Abstract

Mundurukú, a Tupi language of an Amazon Basin Indian people, has had no written form. This article describes the practical problems of establishing an alphabet to match the spoken language as well as relate to Portuguese, the language of Brazil; e.g., whether or not to represent all phonemes, and basic questions on what constitutes a word, or a sentence. Printed materials in Mundurukú are illustrated.