O contato linguístico Kaingang-português em Chapecó: percepções, usos, atitudes e valorização da cultura linguística dos Kaingang

Abstract

The current situation of many Indigenous peoples involves living in a multilingual context comprising Indigenous language(s) and varieties of Portuguese. In many cases, a single variety tends to predominate, which is usually Portuguese. The aim of this thesis is therefore to describe the Kaingang–Portuguese linguistic contact in the Toldo Chimbangue and Kondá villages in Chapecó, Santa Catarina, from the participants’ perspectives; that is, our data were analyzed based on what we heard from those who took part in this study. To conduct this study, we have employed the methodological framework of Pluridimensional and Relational Dialectology. This approach combines areal dialectology characterized by a minimal number of extralinguistic variables and a maximal number of linguistic variables with sociolinguistics, characterized by a maximal number of extralinguistic variables and a minimal number of linguistic variables. A total of 24 participants will be selected: 8 Indigenous individuals from the Kondá Village, 8 Indigenous individuals from the Toldo Chimbangue, and 8 non-Indigenous individuals living in the urban area of Chapecó, who we call the control group. All participants were selected according to the criteria required by the dimensions of the pluridimensional methodology: diatopic (in the case of the Indigenous group, individuals who self-identified as Indigenous and resided in the villages; in the control group: individuals who were born and have always lived in the municipality), diasexual (male and female), and diagerational (aged 18 - 36, GI; and over 55, GII). The data showed that, according to the participants,the Portuguese language is used more frequently than the Kaingang language in Toldo Chimbangue, in both family and social settings. Those who still know the ancestral language mostly belong to the GII group. In Kondá Village, participants stated that Kaingang is used more often than Portuguese within families and in social environments within the community. According to the participants’ perceptions, in Kondá Village people better preserve the Kaingang language, whereas in Toldo Chimbangue, people speak more Portuguese. The data also revealed that, in Kondá Village, speaking Kaingang is considered important, and the community actively practices this belief, whereas in Toldo Chimbangue, participants believe in the importance of the Kaingang language but do not use the ancestral language in their daily interactions. Furthermore, the younger participants believe that the elders know how to speak Kaingang, but, in fact, only some do, and only a few of them use it in their daily lives. The variety of Portuguese spoken in Toldo Chimbangue is referred to as “Chimbanguense,” as speakers recognize particular features that distinguish it from the Portuguese spoken elsewhere. During the data analysis, we observed the nasalization of the vowel “i” in the word “idioma” among both Indigenous groups (points). When compared to the control group’s data, we found that non-Indigenous participants did not exhibit this variation. Both Indigenous groups reported that language mixing occurs, as well as linguistic borrowing between Kaingang and Portuguese. Ultimately, we found that Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants have little contact with each other, and the control group believes that the communities use Kaingang within the villages and Portuguese outside of them.