This dissertation offers an in-depth investigation of the phonology of Munduruku, a Tupi
language spoken in the Amazonian basin of Brazil, approached from three interrelated
perspectives: phonetic, phonological and diachronic. It examines (i) the Munduruku vowel and
consonant inventories, (ii) syllable structure and syllabification, (iii) phonotactic patterns, (iv)
nasal harmony, (v) consonant mutation, (vi) tone system and the tone-creaky voice interaction,
(vii) reduplication, and (viii) the phonological behavior of various affixes.
The phonetic investigation focuses on several acoustic properties of segments (i.e. vowels
and consonants), and on phonological contrasts observed in vowels, in particular the oral-nasal
and modal-creaky voice oppositions, in addition to tonal distinctions. This is done with a view to
determining how and to what extent such phonetic realizations can be imposed on phonological
representations. These issues constitute an important part of the study, and are particularly
relevant to the discussion about the coarticulatory effects observed in the realization of stops,
nasals and laryngeals.
The study also offers a formal account of all major phonological processes attested in the
language such as syllabification, nasal harmony, consonant mutation, tone, etc. The theoretical
model adopted here is Optimality Theory (OT), which defends a representation of the structural
design of grammars based upon a ranking of universal constraints. Each chapter contributes to
the development of an OT-based grammar of the phonology of Munduruku by examining new
aspects of the language, and by situating them in a large-scale scenario until the OT-grammar is
assembled. This result is presented in the last chapter.
In search of evidence for the synchronic analysis, and for a better understanding of some
uncharacteristic patterns, the study turns to the historical development of the language. Using
data from Kuruaya, a sister language to Munduruku, hypotheses about the stage that preceded
both languages, Proto-Munduruku, are made available. In recovering this stage, and the stage
that preceded the modern period, it is possible to recover many of the changes the grammar has
undergone and which culminated in the synchronic patterns.
Ultimately, this study argues for an approach to synchronic grammars as a composite of
universal and language-specific properties, determined by diachronic changes. / Arts, Faculty of / Linguistics, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/18198 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Picanço, Gessiane Lobato |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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