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>Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi (Portuguese pronunciation: [tuˈpi]) is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil
>In the early colonial period, Tupi was used as a General Language throughout Brazil by Europeans and Amerindians, and had literary usage, but it was later suppressed almost to extinction. Today, its sole living descendant is the Nheengatu language
>The term General Language (Portuguese: língua geral) refers to lingua francas that emerged in South America during the 16th and 17th centuries, the two most prominent being the Paulista General Language, which was spoken in the region of Paulistania but is now extinct, and the Amazonian General Language, whose modern descendant is Nheengatu
>Complementing this "package" of measures, the Marquis sought to give greater cultural uniformity to the colony, prohibiting the use of Nheengatu, the general language (a mixture of native languages and Portuguese, spoken by the bandeirantes) and making the use of the Portuguese language mandatory. Some scholars of history claim that it was with this measure that Brazil abandoned the path of becoming a bilingual country