A emergência de construções causativas perifrásticas em Nheengatu do século XIX

Abstract

Nheengatu, also known as Amazonian Lingua Geral, is a Tupinambá language (Tupi-Guarani branch, subgroup III) heavily influenced by linguistic contact. This article aims to analyze causative constructions in the nineteenth century Nheengatu, based on the narratives recorded by Barbosa Rodrigues (1890). We also present an investigation of causatives in three historical moments: (a) the sixteenth-century Tupinambá (Rodrigues 1953); (b) the nineteenthcentury Nheengatu; and (c) the twenty-first century Nheengatu (Da Cruz 2011). As a result, it was observed that in the nineteenth century Nheengatu, there were three causative constructions: one with the causative prefix, one with a causative suffix, and a peripheral construction. The two morphological constructions are conservative forms, also found in Tupinambá. Therefore, the peripheral causative construction is an innovation, which emerged from the contact between Nheengatu and Brazilian Portuguese varieties.