This research characterizes the description of the palatal approximant [j] in the indigenous
language Krahô. The Krahô people the state of Tocantins, and are located on the right bank of
the Tocantins River. Its land has an area of 302,523 thousand hectares, located between the
municipalities of Itacajá and Goiatins, on the banks of the Manoel Alves and Rio Vermelho
rivers. According to Albuquerque (2013), the Krahô people call themselves mẽhi, a term that
is attributed to all other indigenous groups in which there is contact. The Special Indigenous
Sanitary District – DSEI (2021) informs that the Krahô have an estimated population of 3,702
people, distributed in 37 villages. According to Rodrigues (1986), the Krahô language
belongs to the Macro-Jê linguistic trunk and the Jê linguistic family. The alphabet of the
Krahô language, according to Albuquerque and Yahe Krahô (2016), is composed of 29
graphemes, with 13 consonants (c, g, h, j, k, m, n, p, q, r, t, w, x ), 16 vowels, which are 10
oral (a, à, e, ê, i, o, ô, u, y, ỳ) and 6 are nasal (ã, ẽ, ĩ, õ, ũ, ỹ). This research seeks to identify
the treatment of palatal approximant [j] in the language of this people. For this, bibliographic
research was carried out in materials from the Krahô mother tongue, according to the
scientific support of authors such as SILVA (2017); ALBUQUERQUE (2007); OLIVEIRA
(2009); between others. Thus, it was noticed that the phone /j/ before the oral vowel takes
place as [j] as in Jàt - [jʌt]. In the nasal environment /j/, it is performed as [ɲ] as in Jũ - [ɲũ].
Before the upper middle vowels /j/ is performed as [ʤ] as in Jiko - [ʤikʰɔ] and before the
aspirated velar stop, /j/ is performed as [s] as in Ikjê - [ikʰse]. The great facet of the language
is fascinating and once again the distinction that exists between grapheme and phoneme is
proven, given that the contribution of phonetics and phonology is essential for the
understanding of how natural languages are structured and phonologically organized.
|
