For a long time, Dialectology was characterized by exclusively sustaining concern with the diatopic perspective of linguistic variation. However, the current configuration of modern societies has led the area to accept the importance of sociolinguistic factors and linguistic contacts in understanding linguistic phenomena, and, from that moment on, to consider other dimensions in which a natural language can vary. The current thesis was carried out within the geosociolinguistic and/or multi-dimensional perspective. It sought to investigate the lexical variation of Portuguese spoken in Tupí-Guaraní indigenous areas in the states of Pará and Maranhão in the light of the Pluridimensional and Relational Dialectology proposed by Radtke and Thun (1999), Thun (1998, 2000, 2010, 2017), which combines the horizontal (diatopic) dimension with the vertical (diastratic) dimension and the studies by Cardoso (2010), Cardoso and Mota (2016) Razky (1998, 2010), Elizaincín (2010), Calvet (2002), Romaine (1996), Chambers and Trudgill (1998), Trudgill (1999) and Berruto (2010). Four indigenous lands were studied: Trocará (Asuriní do Tocantins/PA), Nova Jacundá (Guaraní Mbyá/PA), Sororó (Suruí Aikewára/PA) and Cana Brava (Guajajára/MA), which are the diatopic dimension of this study. In each community, we sought to interview ten participants. The dimensions considered were the diagenerational (5 to 10 years – Age group C, 18 to 37 years – Age group A, 47 to 75 years – Age group B); the diageneric (male and female), and the diastratic (not educated or educated until the 8th grade (9th grade) and educated from the 1st grade of high school). In addition to the previously mentioned dimensions, the dialingual one (referring to the contact between two or more languages in a language community) was also considered in the research. The dialingual dimension was broadly contemplated by the following linguistic contact relationships: Portuguese/Asuriní from Tocantins; Portuguese/Guaraní Mbyá, Portuguese/Suruí Aikewára and Portuguese/Guajajára. Data collection was carried out on-site and employed the Semantic-Lexical Questionnaire (QSL) of the Brazilian Linguistic Atlas (ALiB) Project. In addition, the situation of bilingualism in the studied communities was observed through the Sociolinguistic Questionnaire (QS). In general, the results show that the lexicon of Portuguese spoken in the studied indigenous lands reflect a continuum, both in the indigenous area considered in data collection and in non-indigenous areas where the ethnic communities are located. Concerning bilingualism, the diagenerational dimension (age group B) is decisive for the maintenance of indigenous languages in the language communities herein studied.
|
