Em Kamaiurá e outras línguas da família Tupi-Guarani são amplamente usadas construções envolvendo dois ou mais verbos, em que o segundo verbo aparece em uma forma tradicionalmente denominada gerúndio. É uma forma muito produtiva, e ocorre com funções diversificadas.Este trabalho analisa as construções em que um verbo no gerúndio vem concatenado a outro verbo, no nível da sentença, excluindo-se aquelas em que seu uso é condicionado por partículas e por fatores textuais. As construções com o gerúndio e suas funções são descritas e são apresentadas evidências de que embora tenham algumas características em comum com verbos seriais, elas exibem propriedades que levam a questionar tal interpretação.

In Kamaiurá and in other Tupi-Guaranian languages there are constructions involving two or more verbs in which the second verb appears in a form traditionally called gerund. The gerund constructions are very productive and diverse with different meaning relations and structures.This paper analyzes the constructions in which a verb in gerund appears connected to another verb at the sentence level, excluding those involving particles and textual factors. A description of the constructions is provided as well as evidence that regardless of having some characteristics in common with serial verbs, they exhibit properties that lead us to into question such interpretation.

This article presents a panorama of the area of the linguistics of the indigenous languages in Brazil within the discipline of Brazilian linguiistics as a whole. Special attention is given to those aspects related to its specific development. It is argued that in contrast to what is commonly supposed, the arrival of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (1959) not only was not the beginning of this area of study in the country, but it even contributed to the delay in its establishment. It was only after the return of Brazilian scholars educated abroad who were interested in the study of the national indigenous languages that a specialized branch of linguistics directed to the study of these languages began to take form. The present situation of the area and perspectives for future development are both explored.