“TRABALHEMO NA PRANTAÇÃO”: A BRIEF MAPPING OF ROTACISMO IN MARAJÓ - PA

Abstract

This study aims to document and analyze the phenomenon of rhotacism present in the speech of residents from the municipality of Ponta de Pedras, located on Marajó Island, in the state of Pará, Brazil. The research is situated within the fields of dialectology, sociolinguistics, phonetics, and phonology, seeking to understand how this linguistic variation manifests in a specific community. The main objective of the study is the phonetic-phonological description and analysis of rhotacism based on the data collected in the field. The theoretical framework is supported by authors such as Bagno (1999; 2001; 2007), Ferreira and Cardoso (1994), Calvet (2002), Bortoni-Ricardo (2004), Labov (1983), Tarallo (1988), and Razky (1998), whose works address linguistic diversity, phonological variation, and the social aspects of language. Methodologically, this is a descriptive and qualitative study, involving a sample of 16 participants selected based on the following criteria: being native to the region, over 50 years of age, incomplete formal education, and gender distribution. Data were collected using a phonetic-phonological questionnaire (Aguilera et al., 2001), with responses phonetically transcribed and analyzed qualitatively. The results revealed a significant occurrence of rhotacism, particularly in words such as "clara" pronounced as "crara", and "planta" as "pranta", among others. The analysis highlights the presence of a stable linguistic variation linked to local sociocultural factors, reflecting unique characteristics of the linguistic identity of the speakers from Ponta de Pedras/PA.