Loukotka (1968)

Loukotka (1968) lists the following dialects of Kaingán and related language varieties.^[5]

• Kaingán / Caingang / Camé / Taven / Kaingygn / Coroado / Kadyrukré
  • Central - spoken between the Ivaí River and Tiquié River, Paraná State
  • Southern or Iñacoré - spoken in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, now in the villages surrounding the cities of Nonohag and Cáceres.
  • Northern - once spoken on the Tiete River
  • Eastern / Nhakfáteitei / Yakwändatéye / Guayana de Paranapamena - formerly spoken in the state of São Paulo on the Paranapanema River
• Binaré - once spoken on the left shore of the Uruguay River in the state of Rio Grande do Sul
• Xiqui - extinct language from Mato Grosso State, once spoken on the São Francisco River and Piquirí River
• Aweicoma / Bugres / Owaikománg / Xocren - spoken in Santa Catarina State in the hinterland of the cities of Itajaí, Palmas, and Blumenau

Mason (1950)

Mason (1950) lists the following classification for the Caingang group of languages:^[6]

• Caingang
  • São Paulo (Coroado); Nyacfateitei
  • Paraná
  • Rio Grande do Sul
• Shocleng
• Taven
  • Tain
  • Ingain (Wayana, Guayaná)
    • Patte (Basa)
    • Chowa
    • Chowaca
  • Ivitorocai
  • Gualacho (Coronado)
    • Gualachí
    • Chiki
    • Cabelludo
• Dorin
  • (bands: Jahuateie, Venharo)
  • (moieties: Cayurucré, Votoro, Camó)

Mason (1950) also lists the Yabutian languages Aricapú and Yabuti as "possibly Caingang."

Consonants

A large number of allophones map to a set of 14 phonemes:^[7]

All consonants have varying allophones depending on their position in the word and on the adjacency of nasal vowels:

• The oral stops have prenasalized allophones [ᵐp, ⁿt, ᵑk] when following a nasal vowel. In unstressed syllables, /k/ is furthermore voiced to become [ᵑɡ].
• The glottal stop /ʔ/ and the non-stop consonants are realized as nasalized [ʔ̃, ɸ̃, ç̃, h̃, w̃, ɹ̃, j̃] preceding nasal vowels.
• The phonemes /b, d, ɟ, ɡ/ are only realized as voiced oral stops between two oral vowels. They are realized as voiced prenasalized stops [ᵐb, ⁿd, ᶮɟ, ᵑɡ] when between a nasal and an oral vowel, as well as word-initially before oral vowels. Between an oral and a nasal vowel they are conversely realized as prestopped [ᵇm, ᵈn, ᶡɲ, ᶢŋ]. Between two nasal vowels, or word-initially before nasal vowels, they are realized as full nasal stops: [m, n, ɲ, ŋ]. The first two types of realization also apply when occurring in the syllable coda and followed by a non-nasal segment; these voiced/prenasalized will however be additionally unreleased: [⁽ᵐ⁾b̚, ⁽ⁿ⁾d̚, ⁽ᶮ⁾ɟ̚, ⁽ᵑ⁾ɡ̚]. However, by convention these stop-phonemes are always written as ⟨m, n, nh, g⟩ in the orthography.
• When preceded by an oral vowel, the sequences /nt, ɲt, ŋk/ can be realized as geminate stops: [tː, cː, kː].
• /ŋ/ is optionally labialized: [ɡʷ, ŋʷ], etc.
• The non-glottal fricatives can word-initially be optionally realized as affricates [p͡ɸ, c͡ç] (including their nasal allophones: [p͡ɸ̃, c͡ç̃].)
• /w/ can optionally be realized as a voiced bilabial fricative [β], and /j/ as a voiced palatal stop [ɟ]. When nasalized, /j/ varies between [j̃] and [ɲ].
• Word-initially, /ɹ/ is preceded by an epenthetic [ə]; it is [ɾ] in tonic syllables and [l] in atonic syllables, and when nasalized, it varies between [ɾ̃] and [ɹ̃]. As a syllable coda it is a flap when oral and approximant when nasal, and may optionally be palatalized: [ɾʲ], [ɹ̃ᶮ].
• Word-initially in a stressed syllable, /t/ may vary in realization between dental [t̪] and alveolar [t]. Following palatal consonants or preceding a close vowel, it can also realized as a palatal stop, [c].

Vowels

• Atonic /i/ and /e/ as well as /u/ and /o/ are merged; the former pair to [ɪ], the latter pair to [ʊ].^[9]
• The backness of the unrounded back vowels /ɤ, ʌ, ɑ/ varies between back [ɤ, ʌ, ɑ] and central [ɘ, ɜ, ɐ].^[9]
• All of the oral vowels /i, u, e, ɤ, o, ɛ, ʌ, ɔ, ɑ/ can be realized as voiceless [i̥, u̥, e̥, ɤ̥ ~ ɘ̥, o̥, ɛ̥, ʌ̥ ~ ɜ̥, ɔ̥, ɑ̥ ~ ɐ̥].^[10]
• Nasal vowels have the same quality as oral vowels. However, Jolkesky (2009) doesn't list a central variant of /ʌ̃/ on his phone chart.^[9]

Postpositions

Kaingang makes use of postpositions.

• goj: water
• goj ki: in the water

Postpositions are also used to mark subject.

• Mĩg vỹ venhvó tĩ. The jaguar runs.
• Kofá tóg pỹn tãnh. The old man killed the snake.

Verbs

Kaingang verbs do not inflect.

• rãgró: to plant
• Ti tóg rãgró krãn huri. He planted beans.
• Ẽg tóg rãgró krãn huri. We planted beans.