Parkatêjê dialect


Parkatêjê, or Pará Gavião, is a Timbira variety of the language family of Brazil. It is spoken by 12 individuals in Terra Indígena Mãe Maria. It is closely related to Kỳikatêjê, spoken by another Timbira group in the same reservation. Parkatêjê has been described and documented by Leopoldina Araújo and, more recently, by other researchers from the Federal University of Pará.

Phonology

Parkatêjê differ from all other Timbira varieties in lacking a contrast between /k/ and /kʰ/. Moreover, the glottal stop /ʔ/ in Parkatêjê may not occupy the coda position of a syllable, which Ribeiro-Silva attributes to loss of Proto-Timbira in codas in Parkatêjê.