(2011-12) RODRIGUES, Cíntia Karla Coelho; SILVA, Marília de Nazaré Ferreira
This study investigates historical and comparative aspects of Tapajúna (Jê family) consonantal features, comparing cognates between Tapajúna and Suyá (also of the Jê family) with the goal of specifying similarities and differences in an effort to describe the reconstruction of the Macro-Jê stock. The comparative method was applied to detect correspondences between the languages. Data from Tapajúna and Suyá were compared to Proto-Jê data, as reconstructed by Davis (1966). There are few differences between Tapajúna and Suyá. Where there are variations in identical phonetic-phonological contexts, the question of speaker age arises, since, for example, pre-nasalized consonants occur in the speech of young people, whereas older Tapajúna speakers use only nasalized consonants.
