Brasília to host int’l conference on indigenous languages

The University of Brasília (UnB) today (Oct 1) is hosting the II International Conference on the Revitalization of Indigenous and Minoritized Languages. The event is recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (Unesco), and is expected to gather representatives from 29 research and academic institutes.

Two hundred participants from outside of UnB have been confirmed, of whom approximately 80 come from foreign countries, like Chile, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Peru, Canada, New Zealand, the US, and Spain.

As suggested by the United Nations (UN), 2019 is celebrated as the International Year of Indigenous Languages. A website was created on the subject, explaining why the preservation of these languages is important for the history and cultural heritage of a large number of peoples, with initiatives launched to protect them.

According to a UN survey, the world is currently home to 6 to 7 thousand languages, with 97 percent of the population speaking only four percent of them. This means that a small group of people—adding up to no more than three percent of the global population, most of whom indigenous—are keeping 96 percent of all existing languages on the planet alive.

A place to thrive

Professor Ana Suelly Cabral, who is organizing the event, says the interference of other languages in the tribes increases the risk of native tongues disappearing. “First, they need a speech community; then, a territory. If there’s no indigenous land with the people in it, there’s no language. And if they can’t practice their language decently, with no interference from Portuguese, then their languages are not going to survive,” she argued. Professor Cabral is coordinator at UnB’s Laboratory for Indigenous Languages and Literatures.

Professor Cabral, who has studied native Brazilian languages for over 30 years—among them languages from the Tupi and Macro-Jê branches—notes how impressive the reactions of indigenous researchers still are after they bring their own tongues into scrutiny.

“From our perspective on the revitalization and strengthening [of these languages], the most interesting thing to see is the indigenous people coming to us for a master’s degree or a PhD and learning how their own languages operate. They’re the ones with the full proficiency and knowledge about the language, but they have no knowledge of its internal organization. It’s an important moment when they start discovering how they work and start falling in love and understanding the beauty in every language. That’s when they want to fight to have these languages documented, with stories collected, paying attention to how the oldest living speakers speak, and bring it to their students. That’s a vital factor for me,” she declared.

The presence of indigenous researchers in Brazilian universities is one of paths towards keeping these languages alive, the professor argued. “That’s one of the ways: Indigenous researchers and professors in linguistics, who are aware of the importance of preserving their languages, documenting them, and transmitting them the best way possible to future generations, so a linguistic policy can come to their homes,” Ana Suelly Cabral said.