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CULTURE-VENEZUELA: New Compendium on Yanomami Language
By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Nov 23 (IPS) - When a Yanomami Indian dies, his or her name is not
to be pronounced for some time, so as not to soil the memory of the
deceased.
This may be a problem if, for example, someone is called Shoco, which is
also
the term for Tamanduá, an anteater that is common in the jungles of southern
Venezuela and northern Brazil, where the Yanomami live.
However, the difficulty can easily be resolved thanks to the linguistic
wealth of this indigenous group that has existed for over 25,000 years, a
living testimony to the Neolithic era, the most recent period of the Stone
Age.
There are several synonyms for the names of animals, and also of some
plants. Therefore, "aroto" means exactly the same as "shoco", and the
community can use that word without violating the tradition that protects
the deceased.
This explanation is provided by one of the 10,000 entries in the "Compendio
ilustrado de lengua y cultura yanomami" ("Illustrated Compendium of the
Yanomami Language and Culture"), a book by French anthropologist and
linguist Marie-Claude Mattéi that has just gone to print.
It is more than a mere dictionary, instead serving as an encyclopaedic
manual that can be used in Yanomami schools and for outsiders studying the
Yanomami language and culture.
After 15 years of research, "we have concentrated our efforts on producing
something more useful and rich in information than a simple dictionary - a
book that can support the didactic measures that the Venezuelan society and
state have the obligation to undertake with respect to the indigenous
communities," Mattéi told IPS.
Venezuela's new constitution, which was approved by voters in 1999,
dedicates an entire chapter to the rights of indigenous peoples, including
"the right to an intercultural and bilingual educational system that takes
into account their special social and cultural characteristics, values and
traditions."
The Yanomami or "children of the moon", who number around 15,000 in
Venezuela and 12,000 in Brazil, are among the 34 indigenous peoples who
mainly live along Venezuela's borders with Colombia, Brazil and Guyana.
According to the 2001 census, 300,000 of Venezuela's 25 million people
belong to indigenous groups.
The Yanomami comprise a majority of the population in the municipality of
Alto Orinoco, which nevertheless tends to be governed by members of two
smaller ethnic groups, the Ye'kuana and Piaroa.
Like their other indigenous neighbours, the Yanomami sometimes incorporate
the ways of mainstream society "in an anarchistic manner. They want speed
boats and other technologies that make their lives more comfortable. The
contact may threaten their culture and language, but that should not lead to
a falsely romantic attitude, such as asking them to live in a bubble," said
Mattéi.
Yanomami and Sanima are the most widely spoken languages among the
indigenous people of Venezuela, according to another anthropologist, María
Eugenia Villalón.
"At least seven languages - Mapoyo, Añú, Baré, Sáliva, Yabarana, Uruak and
Sape - are in a critical state," Villalón, who has dedicated herself to
collecting and preserving what remains of the Mapoyo tongue, told IPS.
A language, Villalón warns, "is not threatened nor does it become extinct
because fewer individuals speak it, but because people stop using it and
stop passing it on from parents to children. The extent to which it is at
risk can be measured by the number of children who speak it." In the case of
Mapoyo, that means almost none, as even adults hardly ever use the language.
Without an effort to support indigenous peoples, "their languages, which
have survived more than 500 years since the arrival of the Spanish and
Portuguese in the Americas, will slowly disappear, they just won't survive,"
warned another expert, Lyll Barceló, who has compiled the myths of the
Guahibo ethnic group.
Having similar concerns, Mattéi divided her Compendium into five parts, the
first of which is a history and description of the Yanomami people, followed
by a guide to comprehend and use the dictionary. "I started with a table of
references and conjugations in order to describe the verbal system of the
language," she explained.
The Yanomami "use various forms of the future and past tense, and the
suffixes of verbs can vary greatly depending on the meaning," she stated.
"I haven't only used the information that I gathered myself, but also
utilised that of numerous books about the Yanomami," said Mattéi. "What I
added was a description of the use of each word, set in the ecosystem where
these people live."
A glossary of the flora and fauna follows, which is a compendium on its own,
as well as a bilingual Spanish-Yanomami mini-dictionary "aimed at providing
help with the greatest difficulties. For example, there are many ways of
saying 'to tie' or 'to open' in this language."
And linguists and taxonomists (the scientists who deal with the
identification, naming, and classification of organisms) will be able to use
a glossary of the taxonomy that the Yanomami themselves use for a number of
animals, illustrated by Jacinto Serowe, a member of the ethnic group who
worked closely with Mattéi.
"There are definitely threats to their language, just as there are threats
anywhere," she pointed out. "But let's stop thinking that indigenous people
will remain in a bubble. Changes are inevitable and they are not the
problem.
"The problem is that they are being denied opportunities, rights regarding
health care and the preservation of their beliefs, and the rights they have
over their own territories.
"A high-speed globalisation process is taking place in the world, but at the
same time there is a revival of interest in minority groups and a
vindication of traditional ways, to keep ethnic groups from being lost. In
Venezuela, under the new constitution and the government of Hugo Chávez,
there is a desire to do something," said Mattéi.
In 1992 and 1996, the anthropologist wrote two books about the culture of
the Panare, another ethnic group from southern Venezuela.
The Compendium on the Yanomami has been published by government agencies in
Venezuela in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the Spanish Agency of International
Cooperation, and Spain's Santander bank.
(END/2004)
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