Língua e cultura do norte de Minas: a toponímia do município de Montes Claros

Abstract

This research deals with toponyms from the City of Montes Claros, located in the Northern region of the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. This region is historically important due to its strategic location during the period of Backland colonization in the 18th and 19th centuries. Besides pointing out marks of social history, such as ethnic formation, migratory processes, and settlement systems in administrative regions, toponymy also perpetuates physical characteristics (i.e., fauna, flora, hydrography, geomorphology) of a given region. This study discusses the relationship between language, culture, and society, by retrieving the memory reflected in the toponyms obtained. Theory and methodology of this work are in agreement with Dauzat (1926) and Dick (1990a, 1990b, 2004); the concept of environment used is from Sapir (1969). According to the labovian model, under a sociolinguistic perspective, inquiry on toponyms extended from present time to the past. Firstly, vernacular language data was collected in oral interviews. Next, maps and other old documents were referred to for written language data. Past and present data were then compared for variations, changes, or linguistic retentions. Results show predominance of toponyms of physical nature, like plant names. Therefore, physical environment greatly influences the generation of designation in this context. Moreover, toponymy in this region is conservative, since there were scarce variations and linguistic changes. Oral interviews for collection of toponyms were of great value to this research, expanding considerably data from the studied region.