Realização, função e distribuição de vogais longas em Yaahte (fulniô), língua indígena brasileira

Abstract

The research project that resulted in this monograph aimed to analyze the realization, function and distribution of long vowels in Yaathe (fulniô) brazilian indigenous language. For the accomplishment of this work we used to phonological and morphophonological studies as a support to talk about the theme approached, anchoring us, mainly, by Borba (2008), Camara Jr., 2008 e Silva (2015). From the methodological point of view, we use the appropriate methodology for the research of descriptive linguistics, starting from data collection, transcription, treatment and elicitation, as well as description and analysis. We use the data collected during the visit to the Fulni-ô village, as well as data already existing in the Yaathe (Fulni-ô) Documentation of the Brazilian Indigenous Language Documentation Project Database (COSTA, OLIVEIRA and SILVA, 2015). The theoretical and methodological framework used in the data analysis that provides us with the necessary knowledge to obtain results was found in authors such as Costa (1999, 2015) and Silva (2011, 2016). To talk about linguistic studies and their historical course as well as on indigenous languages in Brazil, we rely on Mateus and Villalva (2006), Rodrigues (2005), Fiorin (2003), Saturtino (2014). The results of the analysis show that long vowels have two types of function: distinctive and allophonic. The first ones are phonemes in the tongue, possibly resulting from phonological and morphophonological processes that have crystallized and, even if there are no minimal pairs or analogous pairs between short / long vowels that can perform distinctive function, they can be considered as part of phonological picture of the Yaathe language. The second is the result of phonological and morphophonological processes that can still be identified synchronously and, therefore, are allophonic realizations of short vowels.