PROMBYÁ: Uma Proposta de Modelagem Navegacional para a língua Guarani-Mbyá

Abstract

The need to overcome the limitations and distortions in the representation of the Guarani-Mbyá language, caused by the absence of an Indigenous perspective in linguistic studies and the scarcity of artifacts that systematically address the language and culture of this ethnic group, is the central theme of this research. The study is based on interdisciplinary dialogues between Information Science, especially the field of Knowledge Organization, and Linguistics, seeking to integrate different areas of knowledge for a comprehensive and sensitive approach to the informational, linguistic, and cultural issues of the Guarani-Mbyá community, enabling the theoretical-methodological basis for the treatment of the properties of the lexicon, the relation between words, the preferred and non-preferred lexicons, among others. From this perspective, the general objective sought is to propose a navigational model that represents the fundamental elements of the Guarani-Mbyá indigenous language, based on Ranganathan's Theory of Faceted Classification and Cabré's Theory of Communicative Terminology, considering the worldview and perspective of the Guarani-Mbyá people, observing the Indigenous cultural guarantee. It aims to represent the knowledge of these indigenous people through their language, to assist in the organization, understanding, and dissemination of the Guarani-Mbyá language, as well as to benefit the recovery of information and, thus, strengthen its linguistic and cultural revitalization. The research is characterized, in terms of its approach, as qualitative and, in terms of its objectives, it is descriptive research, since it seeks to obtain new perceptions, information, and methods of analysis concerning the object of study through the observation of the phenomenon investigated. As for the technical procedures adopted, it is a bibliographic documentary and applied research. For the bibliographic-documentary, linguistic and sociocultural data sources were used to categorize and construct the model. For the applied research, instruments were developed for extracting lexicographic information, also based on the theoretical contributions of Information Science. The corpus selected for investigation is composed of the linguistic and sociocultural data of the Guarani-Mbyá language made available in the Guarani-Mbyá/Portuguese Bilingual Dictionary. The results obtained demonstrate the viability of the navigational modeling proposal, which could provide a model for the development of an information retrieval system in the future. The research highlights the importance of collaboration with the Guarani-Mbyá community, in observing local culture and linguistic practices for an authentic and respectful representation of the indigenous language. Based on the analysis of data from the Dictionary and other sources, a model, named Prombyá, was created that categorizes words in a semantic and syntactic sense, identifies lexical relationships, deals with ambiguities and synonyms, and represents the Guarani-Mbyá language and culture, contributing to the maintenance and appreciation of the indigenous linguistic and cultural heritage. The theoretical basis and technical procedures that led to the construction of Prombyá point to the conclusion that there is a need for continued research and development of studies on the organization of indigenous knowledge, aiming to facilitate the interpretation and accessibility of the indigenous language, since it allows readers and/or researchers to quickly identify the central concepts and their interrelations. In the context of social innovation, the application of Prombyá, is expected to promote the vitalization, learning, and analysis of the Guarani-Mbyá language and culture, meeting the needs of various audiences, namely, members of the indigenous community, bilingual speakers, researchers, and society in general.