Os Hixkaryána: ideologias linguísticas, relações de contato e trajetórias escolares e universitárias

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the linguistic ideologies that influence the representations that indigenous and non-indigenous interlocutors make of the Hixkaryána language and the Portuguese language. The analysis was based on the contact relationships experienced by the Hixkaryána indigenous people in the cities of Nhamundá-Am and Parintins-Am and their school and university experiences. Seeking to delve deeper into the understanding of this relationship, I rely on the theoretical assumptions of Linguistic Ideologies, which I discuss in this thesis following two perspectives of analysis. The first of these aims to identify the ideas, images and representations that people have of the Hixkaryána language and Portuguese (Silverstein, 1979; Spitulnik, 2012; Woolard, 2012). The second aims to reveal the power relations responsible for the ideas and representations of languages and their speakers (Blommaerte and Verschueren, 2012; Gal, 2012; Eagleton, apud Spitulnik, 2012; Mertz, 2012). In this research, I have the direct collaboration of six interlocutors from the Hixkaryána ethnic group, four men and two women. To better understand the dynamics and relations established from the village to the city, in this research I consider the educational and university trajectories of the Hixkaryána interlocutors, which generally begin in a bilingual school in the village, but which assumes a monolingual configuration in Portuguese as the student begins to study in the city. In this sense, the construction of the trajectories was supported in part by the subjects' memories socialized throughout the interviews and informal conversations held, understanding the successive fields in which they are inserted. The results achieved reveal that the presence of the Hixkaryána in the city is marked by negative representations that spread prejudice and the devaluation of their language and way of life.