Abstract

COSTA CHACON, Thiago; GARCIA GONCALVES, Artur  and  FERREIRA DA SILVA, Lucas. ARAWAK LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN THE UPPER RIO NEGRO, ON THE BASIS OF RECORDINGS FROM THE1950S. Forma funcion, Santaf, de Bogot, D.C. [online]. 2019, vol.32, n.2, pp.41-67. ISSN 0120-338X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/fyf.v32n2.80814.

The article carries out a comparative analysis of Arawak languages and varieties from the Upper Rio Negro (Brazil), documented in the 1950s by Salesian priest Alcionílio Brüzzi Alves da Silva. On the basis of an initial analysis aimed at reinterpreting and updating Brüzzi's metadata and transcriptions, we explored nearly 220 concepts and established the cognate words in the different languages and varieties. We took into account the presence or absence of a determined group of cognates as lexical variables, and the allophonic realization of certain phonemes, as a phonetic variable. The analysis resulted in a general picture of Arawak linguistic diversity in the region of the Isana and Vaupes rivers during the 1950s, which allowed us to inquire into genetic and dialectological relations among the languages and varieties, as well as to expand the analysis in dialogue with recent comparative and dialectological research.

Keywords : Baniwa-Kurripako; Arawak family; Upper Rio Negro; dialectology; historical linguistics; Werekena; Tariana.

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