Phonology and Morphosyntax of Meniháku (Arawakan)language.

Abstract

This research project aims to analyze the phonology and morphosyntax of Mehináku (Arawakan)language, spoken by about 250 people who inhabit the region Kurisevo river, in the Xingu Indigenous Park (MT-Brazil). This is a descriptive study, carried out from the data analysis (speech samples) that we intend to collect with native speakers during the fieldwork. On phonological research, we are seeking to: (i) describe the segments (phones, allophones, consonant and vowel phonemes, beyond the glides); (ii) describe the syllabic structure and syllabification process of this language; (iii) describe the behavior of the accent and the nasality issues; (iv) describe the morphophonological processes; (v) describe the phonological processes of change applied to loanwords from other languages (Indigenous or Portuguese), among other linguistic phenomena detected during the phonological analysis of Mehináku oriented by the theoretical assumptions of Pike (1947), Goldsmith (1990), Kenstowicz (1995), Clements and Hume (1995), among others. On morphosyntactic research, the focus will be: (i) identify the classes of words or parts of speech, (ii) describe the nominal and verbal grammatical categories, (iii) determine the order of constituents in terms of S(ubject), V(erb) and O(bject), (iv) check the type of clauses (independent/dependent), and (v) describe the morphosyntactic processes, through a typological-functional theoretical perspective, developed by authors like Shopen (1985); Comrie (1989); Givón (1991); Payne (1991, 1997); Dixon (1994), among others.