Pykobjê dialect

Pykobjê (also Gavião-Pykobjê)^[2] Pykobjê-Gavião,^[1] Gavião,^[3] Pyhcopji, or Gavião-Pyhcopji^[4]: 11) 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.

Krĩkatí^[4]: 11 (also Krinkati^[2]: 6 or Krikati^[3]) is spoken by the Krĩkatí people in Terra Indígena Krikati in Maranhão.

Pykobjê and Krĩkatí differ in that Pykobjê retains the velar nasal /ŋ/ of Proto-Timbira^[5] (spelt ⟨g⟩ in the orthography, as in cagã 'snake', gõr 'to sleep'), which Krĩkatí has replaced with /h/ (cahã, hõr),^{[2]: 22, 158} as well as in having a voiceless fricative allophone [s ~ ʃ] of /j/ (spelt ⟨x⟩, as in cas 'pacará basket', hõhmtyx 'his/her wrist'), which occurs in the coda position only and corresponds to [j] in all other Timbira varieties, including Krĩkatí.^[2]: 21

There is a Krĩkatí-Portuguese dictionary by a New Tribes Mission missionary.^[3]

The remainder of this article describes Pykobjê specifically.

As in all other Northern Jê languages,^[6] verbs in Pykobjê inflect for finiteness and thus have a basic opposition between a finite (or short) form and a nonfinite (or long) 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 (such as past, negated or quantified).^[2]: 101 Nonfinite forms are most often formed via suffixation and/or prefix substitution. Some verbs (including all descriptives with the exception of cato ‘to leave, to arrive, to appear’, whose nonfinite form is cator) lack an overt finiteness distinction.

The following nonfinite suffixes have been attested: -r (the most common option, found in many transitive and intransitive verbs), -n (found in some transitive verbs), as well as -c, -m, and -x (found in a handful of intransitive verbs which take a nominative subject when finite).^[6]: 543

In addition to the aforementioned processes, the finiteness inflection may involve prefix substitution or loss. For example, the valency-reducing prefixes are a(j)- (anticausative) and a(a)-, aw- (antipassive) in finite verb forms, but -pe(e)h-, -pẽh-^[2]: 112 and -jỳ-,^[2]: 111/-jõh-,^{[2]: 144–5} respectively, in the nonfinite forms. In addition, some verbs which denote physiological activities or movement have a prefix (ehj- and aa-, respectively) in their finite forms but not in the nonfinite form. Some examples are given below.^[3]

Pykobjê widely uses the diminutive suffix -re and the augmentative suffix -teh, which may combine with nouns and descriptive predicates.^{[2]: 36–7}

Instrumental/locative nominalizations are formed by means of the suffix -xỳ,^[2]: 47 which attached to the nonfinite forms of verbs.