Language Documentation and Revitalization in Latin American Contexts by Gabriela Pérez Báez Chris Rogers Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada

Author:Gabriela Pérez Báez,Chris Rogers,Jorge Emilio Rosés Labrada
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2016-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

Liliana Sánchez

8The linguist gaining access to the indigenous populations: Sharing cultural and linguistic knowledge in South America

Liliana Sánchez, Rutgers University

1Introduction

Many linguistics students and researchers develop an interest in conducting research on indigenous languages in South America. Many researchers come from countries and regions different from those where the indigenous languages are spoken and come from different cultural backgrounds (Bowern 2010). In the past two decades, new legislation and efforts from indigenous organizations have begun to emerge in South America with the goal of protecting indigenous language rights (Grinevald 1998). This has created the need for a better understanding of the administrative and political conditions in which research on indigenous languages is and can be conducted in this region of the world.

As Bowern (2010) points out with respect to a new paradigm for ethics in linguistics, there is variation in the responses of academic institutions to establishing guidelines for ethical research. While some institutions such the University of Toronto’s Research Office exempts data collection based on elicitation from human subjects review, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies has proposed to increase the requirements for ethical approval in research concerning aboriginal languages (Bowern 2010: 897). This type of variation in guidelines generates some uncertainty regarding what is appropriate ethical behavior in data collection and research on indigenous languages.

For linguists interested in less documented and less studied languages of South America the issue of how to approach indigenous speech communities is especially important in the context of the assertion of indigenous communities rights in the region, given the different levels of development of cultural and linguistic policies by these indigenous communities and their national states.

In this paper, I would like to present three aspects of the complex relationship that many indigenous communities have with the countries/ states of which they are members or in which they are geographically located (with a special focus on indigenous languages and communities in Peru) that affect the way in which a linguistic researcher may approach indigenous communities. The first one is the varying degrees of connection that indigenous communities have with the states in which their territories are located. The second one is the difference in representation at the local and state levels that indigenous communities have. The third one is the existence of legislation and ongoing government projects that aim at producing equality in the way in which indigenous communities and their cultural and linguistic rights are represented. The pieces of legislation and the ongoing processes that are discussed here address language policies that support the revitalization and maintenance of indigenous languages.

The primary goal of introducing these complexities is to provide linguists interested in conducting research on indigenous languages of South America, and especially of Peru, with an approximation to what is involved in developing a research project that is mindful of the current situation of indigenous languages and cultures. A second goal is to inform them of current efforts being undertaken by government institutions, indigenous representatives and local communities of scholars in order to promote language maintenance and revitalization.

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