Política linguística: gestão da língua Apyãwa

Abstract

In this work I try to demonstrate that the linguistic policies adopted by the Apyãwa are language management actions for the strengthening and cultural linguistic vitality of their people. To do so, I follow a methodological path that merges with my experience and with them, through the Intercultural Education Course at UFG. I also try to present the perspective of the Apyãwa on linguistic policy, bilingualism, dialoguing with non-indigenous authors. The Apyãwa People, speakers of the Apyãwa language (Tapirapé), who belong to Subgroup IV, of the Tupi-Guarani Family, from the Tupi Trunk, according to the classification of Rodrigues (1986), live in the state of Mato Grosso, close to the cities of Confresa, Santa Terezinha and Porto Alegre do Norte, in the Urubu-Branco Indigenous Land, with a population of approximately 1.160 indigenous people. The research was carried out based on Lives that took place in 2021, on the Youtube and Facebook platforms, and seminars and congresses, in 2019 and 2022, which had the participation of the Apyãwa, mainly with those who have shown greater involvement in linguistic-cultural issues. I was also based on the dissertations defended in 2020 by professors Tenywaawi Tapirapé, Arowaxeo’i Tapirapé and Koria Tapirapé, the first two in the area of Linguistics and the last in Anthropology. In the Lives, I looked for categories that were repeated, such as identity, language strengthening, writing as orality strengthening, linguistic vitality, the role of Takãra and the school in strengthening language and culture, which demonstrated the concern of the Apyãwa with maintaining their language and its culture. The objective was to verify how the Apyãwa of the Urubu-Branco Indigenous Land are dealing with the entry of the Portuguese language and non-indigenous culture into their community, what resistance actions they are building and how education has contributed to the linguistic-cultural vitality of this people. For this, we used a theoretical foundation composed of non-indigenous authors, such as Calvet (2007), Pimentel da Silva (2012, 2021), Leite (2012), Praça (2007), and indigenous authors, such as Tenywaawi Tapirapé (2015, 2020), Arowaxeo'i Tapirapé (2020), Koria Tapirapé (2020) and Mehinaku (2010), so that there was a dialogue of knowledge, in order to reaffirm or not my findings.