Pykobjê dialect


Pykobjê is a dialect of Pará Gavião, a Northern Jê language, spoken by the Gavião-Pykobjê people in Terra Indígena Governador close to Amarante, Maranhão, Brazil. It has also been stated to be a distinct language.
Krĩkatí is spoken by the Krĩkatí people in Terra Indígena Krikati in Maranhão.
Pykobjê and Krĩkatí differ in that Pykobjê retains the velar nasal of Proto-Timbira, which Krĩkatí has replaced with, as well as in having a voiceless fricative allophone of, which occurs in the coda position only and corresponds to in all other Timbira varieties, including Krĩkatí.
There is a Krĩkatí-Portuguese dictionary by a New Tribes Mission missionary.
The remainder of this article describes Pykobjê specifically.

Phonology

Consonants

  • Stops /p, t, k/ can be heard as voiced when in intervocalic positions or when preceding glide sounds /j, w/.
  • Fricatives and occur as allophones of /j/ when in coda position.

Morphology

Finiteness morphology

As in all other Northern Jê languages, verbs in Pykobjê inflect for finiteness and thus have a basic opposition between a finite form and a nonfinite form. Finite forms are used in matrix non-past clauses only, whereas nonfinite forms are used in all types of subordinate clauses as well as in some matrix clauses. Nonfinite forms are most often formed via suffixation and/or prefix substitution. Some verbs lack an overt finiteness distinction.
The following nonfinite suffixes have been attested: -r, -n, as well as -c, -m, and -x.

Prefix substitution or loss

In addition to the aforementioned processes, the finiteness inflection may involve prefix substitution or loss. For example, the valency-reducing prefixes are a- and a-, aw- in finite verb forms, but -peh-, -pẽh- and -jỳ-,/-jõh-, respectively, in the nonfinite forms. In addition, some verbs which denote physiological activities or movement have a prefix in their finite forms but not in the nonfinite form. Some examples are given below.

Derivational morphology

Productive affixes

Pykobjê widely uses the diminutive suffix -re and the augmentative suffix -teh, which may combine with nouns and descriptive predicates.
Instrumental/locative nominalizations are formed by means of the suffix -xỳ, which attached to the nonfinite forms of verbs.