O acento lexical em yaathe.

Abstract

Spoken by the Fulni-ô indians, whose community is located in Águas Belas district, approximately 300 Km from Recife, Yaathe is an indigenous language belonging to Macro-Jê phylum. Live and spoken by almost 3,700 members of the group, according to data provided by FUNASA in 2006, it executes religions and social functions in the tribe, being the only native language still spoken in the Northeast of Brazil. (COSTA, 1999). In spite of a large study having already been undertaken of the Yaathe language, little is known about its accentual system in phonetics terms as well as linguistically. Hence, this study was conducted focusing on an experimental phonetic description of accent, aiming more consistent formulations of its organization in the referred language. To reach our goals, we used acoustic analyses principles, conjoined with technical procedures of laboratorial phonetics and, following that, analysis principles of Metrical Phonology. Data processing showed that taking into account only phonological criteria, it is not possible to define clearly the rules of assignment of stress in Yaathe, calling for a morphological study to observe the behavior of accent in words with an internal structure. From a phonetic point of view, we have reached the following results: i) pitch has not a linguistic function as the melodic pattern is always rising in the word; ii) length and intensity, either together or isolated, are the phonetic correlate of accent; iii) the accent prominence occurs in the right margin of the word, in the last or in the second-to-last syllable. From the phonological point of view, it was not possible to formulate rules for the assignment of accent in the language. Nevertheless the research made possible to sketch some hypothesis that can be pursued in the future towards a better understanding of the prosodic system of Yaathe.