Discussing the linguistic history of Cayapó do Sul: a comparative analysis with Panará language

Abstract

The research proposed aims to determine the relationship between the language spoken by the group Panará and one that was spoken by Cayapó do Sul. The Cayapó do Sul occupied a large area in central Brazil (Southern state of Goias, northeast of the current Mato Grosso do Sul, northwest of the state of Sao Paulo and "Triangulo Mineiro", in Minas Gerais), and after about two centuries of contact with non-indigenous population, were given as extinct at the beginning of the twentieth century. The linguistic data available from them are vocabularies of the nineteenth century - collected in Goias, Mato Grosso and Sao Paulo - and a vocabulary of 1911, collected by Alexandre Barbosa, at Minas Gerais. Otherwise the Panara were contacted in the 70s of the twentieth century, and nowadays are on the frontier of Mato Grosso with Para State, on the edges of the Teles Pires River. About their language, they are available a master's dissertation, a doctoral thesis and articles written by Luciana Dourado. The analysis is guided by assumptions of the Prague School, which has Trubetzkoy and Jakobson as its main exponents, the model proposed by the Autossegmental Theory and uses the tools of Historical and Comparative method. (AU)