LINGUISTICS y Toward the survival of indigenous languages With the help of he approximately 170 indigenous languages spoken in Brazil are an technology, researchers important subject of research in work to prevent the T the linguistic field today. It’s a fight against time. Faced with estimates that these disappearance of native languages could disappear within 50 to 100 years, linguists are dedicated not only to re- languages in Brazil cording them but also to working toward their survival. From textbooks to dictionaries, from sites in indigenous languages to digital lin- guistic corpora, a generation of researchers gani who began their studies with these commu- R VER R U Luisa Destri nities in the 1990s are offering contributions H T AR that simultaneously deal with the subject’s PublisHED in NOVEMBER 2018 scientific demands and meet social aims. “We’ve lost a lot of diversity and we’re go- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION ing to lose even more,” says Luciana Storto, a PESQUISA FAPESP z 75 professor in the Department of Linguis- and most experienced to the communi- tics at the School of Philosophy, Lan- The production ty’s youngest members,” explains Storto. guages and Literature, and Humanities When older people stop using a certain at the University of São Paulo (FFLCH- of material language and children stop learning it, USP). She refers to an estimate that for use in the result is the disappearance of that there were more than a thousand na- language. Schools, which could inter- tive languages spoken in the country be- communities vene in this process, aren’t always able fore colonization. Nevertheless, Brazil is to do so. Although indigenous education recognized worldwide for its many lan- is one way of has had its autonomy legally guaranteed guages: there are 37 families or linguistic since 1999, there is no structured educa- subfamilies (Macro-Jê and Tupi are the repaying the tional system—each ethnic group must largest groupings), as well as eight other contributions take responsibility for conceiving its own isolated languages—that is, languages plan. As there are few native profession- unrelated to any other known language. of indigenous als with the training to do this, commu- The indigenous population in the nities rely on specialized collaboration country has grown to 896,917, accord- people to develop specific teaching materials ing to data from the Brazilian Institute for their own language. of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), The linguist’s work with indigenous but the number of people who speak communities is extensive and almost al- these languages is continually declin- ways begins with the description of the ing—today, only 434,664 people are able language in its many aspects—sounds to speak them. Although many of these and their combinations, words and their native peoples don’t live on indigenous Tradição, universais e diversidade (Indig- composition, sentences and their for- lands, most indigenous language speak- enous languages: Tradition, universality, mation, and the language in actual use. ers are concentrated in the demarcated and diversity), scheduled for release in An initial synthesis of this knowledge areas that occupy 13% of the Brazilian 2019, Storto explains that while health results in theoretical works that can territory and favor the preservation of care and nutrition have improved among take the form, for example, of a gram- the language and culture of these ethnic indigenous peoples, “historical preju- mar text. Such was the case for Storto, groups. In the book Línguas indígenas: dice” causes many to abandon their own whose doctoral thesis, defended at the languages, believing this is the most suit- Massachusetts Institute of Technology able way to obtain fluency in the Portu- (MIT) in the United States, was ded- guese language. icated to Karitiana, the language of a gani R VER R U For languages with an oral tradition, community living in an area located in H T the consequences of this process are di- Porto Velho, Rondônia. AR sastrous. “Knowledge is passed down “It’s common that this is the first ap- from generation to generation, mainly proach, because every language has a through narratives told by the oldest logic, and linguists have techniques to ILLUSTRATION 76 z AUGUST 2019 extract this logic and write down a gram- Starting from the description, which documenting indigenous languages,” mar,” explains Filomena Sandalo, a pro- is also a way of understanding and mas- the UNICAMP researcher explains. fessor in the Department of Linguistics tering the language, the work can de- She adds, “The themes I’m looking for of the Institute of Language Studies at velop in different directions. Sandalo’s are the universals of the language, that the University of Campinas (IEL-UNI- work has an unusual trajectory because which characterizes human language CAMP). Sandalo has been a researcher it is subordinated to theoretical discus- regardless of culture and society.” on the subject for more than 25 years. sions in the field of generative linguis- As part of her doctoral thesis, defended tics. Presented by the American linguist DIGital CORPus and WEBsite at the University of Pittsburgh in the and philosopher Noam Chomsky in the As part of the project “Frontiers and United States, she created a grammar for late 1950s, this field abstractly describes asymmetries in phonology and mor- the Kadiwéu language, which is spoken and explains language, which is under- phology,” which proposed experiments by the eponymous indigenous commu- stood to be an innate capacity of the hu- with Portuguese and Kadiwéu in order nity whose territory is located in Mato man brain. “I created a grammar which to discuss linguistic theory, Sandalo co- Grosso do Sul. was atypical among those working on ordinated the creation of a digital corpus of this indigenous language. Available for consultation at UNICAMP’s Tycho Brahe Project website, this corpus brings together some of the Kadiwéu people’s narratives in sound and text files, with a translation of each of the words (an- notations to a text to explain the mean- ing of a word, for example, are called “glosses” by linguists), as well as mor- phological analysis. The aim is twofold: to serve both for linguistic research and for educational use. “A corpus is also a mechanism for preserving languages,” the project coordinator adds. In the field of theoretical research, the Preserved from childhood production of material for use in com- munities is seen as a way of repaying the contributions of the indigenous people. When she was invited by the bicho, fala de gente – Cantigas de “We do a lot of work documenting texts Juruna to record their lullabies, ninar do povo juruna (Animals and sentences, and we need them to help Cristina Fargetti was surprised. speak, people speak—Lullabies of us the entire time with translations. In A few years earlier, she had asked the Juruna people; Edições SESC). exchange, we produce didactic material: members of the community if The book provides a complete a spelling reference, a documentation there was a tradition of women study of the genre, comparing it to project,” says Storto. Such projects, she singing at night for their children. Portuguese and Brazilian songs, explains, have significant value to these There wasn’t. “If you ask the discussing their meaning among communities: “If exhibited at school, a wrong question, you’ll get the the Juruna, and presenting video of ancestors speaking the language, wrong answer,” she says today, transcriptions and contextualized for example, is useful as a record of tra- after discovering that the tradition translations of 49 songs. The rich ditional knowledge.” does exist but that lullabies can musical repertoire of this ethnic Given the importance of writing in be sung only during the day, group is also the object of a study Western culture, the preliterate nature until around 4:00 p.m. The Juruna by researcher and composer of hat indigenous languages contributes believe that sleep temporarily Marlui Miranda, who wrote the to their vulnerability. For this reason, takes people’s souls away from transcriptions of the songs Fargetti the orthographic part of the project is their bodies. If they were sung collected, which are reproduced often part of the work of the linguist, at night, these songs would quickly on a CD that accompanies the who establishes the alphabet and the push the soul away. Pulled into book. There are also discussions rules for its use. This was what Wilmar the darkness, it wouldn’t be able about humor among the Juruna D’Angelis did in the early 2000s in a joint to return. This would lead to and how they view the differences effort with the Kaingang in the western illness or even to the child’s death. between humans and animals— region of the state of São Paulo, where he The result of the research, aspects that are important for worked for almost four decades, initially which had as its goal the understanding the songs and that as an indigenist and later as a linguist. In revitalization of this indigenous evoke specific understanding of a participatory process, the community tradition, can be found in Fala de linguistics and anthropology. and researcher adapted an orthography developed in the 1960s for the Kaingang PESQUISA FAPESP z 77 34,470 The languages and their speakers 8,596 Number of indigenous people fluent in their native languages 19,905 4,887 Speakers Current 1.575 population 1,240 594 649 229 311 271 205 People Karitiana Nhandewa- Juruna Kadiwéu Kaingang Krenak -guarani Linguistic TUPI GuaiCuru MACro-JÊ Family Linguistic Arikém Tupi- Juruna Kadiwéu Jê Krenak Subfamily -guarani SourCes Luciana STORTO anD FElipE FERREIRA VanDER VELDEN (KARitiana), MÔnica THEREZA SOARES PECHincHA (KADiwÉU), KIMIYE TOMMasinO anD RicaRDO CID FERnanDES (Kaingang), RubEM FERREIRA THOMAZ DE ALMEIDA anD FabiO MuRA (NHanDEwa-GuaRani), MaRia HilDA BAQUEIRO PARaisO (KREnak), TÂnia STOLZE LIMA (JURuna) – INDigENOus PEOplES in BRAZil, InstitutO SOciOAMbiEntal; CEnsO DEMOGRÁficO 2010: CARactERÍsticas GERais DOS INDÍGEnas (DEMOGRapHic CEnsus 2010: GENERal CHARactERistics OF THE INDigENOus POpulatiON), BRAZilian InstitutE OF GEOGRapHY anD Statistics.