Haliti

Haliti, self-designated Haliti-Paresi and called Paresi, is a Central Arawakan language of the Paresi–Xingu branch, spoken by the Paresi people on the plateaus of Mato Grosso in western Brazil. In its number system only the first four quantities have distinct words, everything above four being reckoned on a base of five with fingers, toes and other body parts.

The Paresi encountered Portuguese colonists for the first time in 1718, and for more than a century afterward their villages were raided for slaves, the captives set to work as miners in Mato Grosso. The disruption scattered or absorbed several Paresi subgroups, while surviving bands such as the Kozarene kept Haliti alive through traditional beer-brewing, bread-making and other communal customs.