Endangered Languages of Brazil

Endangered Languages of Brazil

Brazil was "discovered" in 1500. It is estimated by linguist Aryon Rodrigues that in the past 500 years, 75% of the indigenous languages spoken at the time of its discovery have become extinct. This has happened in two ways - by the assimilation of an indigenous group into the expanding "national culture" with consequent language shift, and by decimation of indigenous populations through disease or violence. The first groups to be affected were those who lived along the coast or along the major waterways, since these were the areas first settled by immigrants. The Amerindians of the Northeast live in this type of environment. However, the national culture continues to move further and further inland, bringing with it the threat of extinction of more indigenous languages.

The languages of groups living in Amazonia are especially vulnerable, because they tend to have relatively small populations. Nearly one third of Brazil's indigenous languages, of which there are around 180, have less than 100 speakers, and 110 have 400 speakers or less.

One of the major killers of indigenous populations has been measles epidemics, such as among the Nambikuara. Conflicts with local non-Indians has further reduced the population as was the case with the Juma. In both of these situations the surviving speakers of a given language have suffered losses which go far beyond the loss of their language. In recent years vaccination campaigns by the Brazilian government have reduced the risk of decimation by epidemics, and progress toward the demarcation of Indian lands will hopefully reduce the risk of conflicts with the outside world.

While language shift is a process that has gone on throughout history, it is accelerated when an overwhelming number of speakers of a majority language come into regular contact with a small indigenous group. The shift is often aggravated in part by attitudes of the majority population that the indigenous language is somehow inferior. Language shift takes place gradually, with the majority language replacing the indigenous language first in the areas of life which are most superficial to the fabric of the culture, such as the government and the workplace, and moving inward until the indigenous language is no longer spoken in school, in the home, and finally among the elders. With each step of language shift, it becomes increasingly more difficult to reverse the loss of the traditional language. Unfortunately language groups sometimes lament the loss of their language only after it has reached a point that it is (nearly) impossible to reverse.

Through the study of indigenous languages and the emphasis on bilingual education, members of SIL help to reinforce positive attitudes of indigenous groups toward their language. By learning to focus on their language, rather than simply speak it, the members of a threatened language group are better prepared to take a pro-active approach towards language maintenance. For example, read what took place among the Nambikuara.

From a scientific point of view, every language that becomes extinct without any documentation reduces the potential for what we might have come to understand about the nature of language in general and about the history of South American languages in specific. Works such as those on Ofayé help to preserve for the scientific world what would otherwise have been completely lost upon the death of the last speakers of the language. Read the article by Dan Everett: From Threatened Languages to Threatened Lives.

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Approximately 38% of the languages of South America are considered endangered because they are small groups with populations of 600 or less. Using this criteria, there are 133 endangered languages in Brazil. Of these, 105 have populations of 225 or less.

Source: Mary Ruth Wise, 1994.

For more information, see the section about endangered languages on the SIL International web site.