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The Trans-Tocantins languages are a proposed subgroup of the Northern Jê languages, which comprises four languages spoken to the west of the Tocantins River: Apinajé, Mẽbêngôkre, Kĩsêdjê, and Tapayúna.[1]^: 7 It is subdivided in a binary manner into Apinajé, spoken to the east of the Araguaia River, and the Trans-Araguaia subbranch, which includes the remaining three languages. Together with the Timbira dialect continuum, the Trans-Tocantins languages make up the Northern branch of the Jê family.

Trans-Tocantins
Geographic distribution	Tocantins, Pará, Mato Grosso
Linguistic classification	Macro-Jê Jê Cerrado Jê of Goyaz Northern Jê Trans-Tocantins
Subdivisions	Apinajé Trans-Araguaia (Mẽbêngôkre, Kĩsêdjê, Tapayúna)
Glottolog	None

The defining innovations of the Trans-Tocantins languages include the replacement of Proto-Goyaz Jê and Proto-Northern Jê *a-mbə ‘eat (intransitive)’ (as preserved in Canela/Krahô/Parkatêjê apà, Pykobjê aapỳ, Panará -ânpâ) with Proto-Trans-Tocantins *ap-ku (> Apinajé apku, Mẽbêngôkre aku, Kĩsêdjê/Tapayúna akhu).[2]^: 274 as well as the fortition of Proto-Northern Jê *j to *ĵ in unstressed syllables (except if preceded by the low vowel *a), as shown below.[1]^: 234

Proto-Northern Jê	gloss	Proto-Trans-Tocantins	Apinajé	Mẽbêngôkre	Kĩsêdjê	Tapayúna
*jujarẽñ	‘to narrate (nonfinite)’	*ĵujarẽñ	xujarẽnh	djujarẽnh	tujarẽn	tujarẽj
*jəbir	‘to go up (nonfinite)’	*ĵəbir	xàpir	djàbiri	tápiri	tàwiri

References

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