Decade of indigenous languages in Brazil: the insurrection and the indigenous protagonism in the construction of language policies

Abstract

This paper discusses the indigenous role in the Decade of Indigenous Languages in Brazil. We start with a discussion about the sociolinguistic scenario of ancestral languages and the political actions that indigenous peoples, autonomously and in partnership, have been developing in relation to the strengthening, revitalization and resumption of their languages. Then, we deal with the concepts of language that are the epistemological basis of these projects of linguistic revitalization and resumption. We are at a crucial moment in the face of the danger of disappearance of many ancestral languages in Brazil and in the world, in which the defense of these languages is central to guaranteeing the rights of indigenous peoples and their linguistic-cultural diversity. In this sense, we raise some reflections on the emergence of indigenous protagonism for the development of local, regional and national language policies regarding the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, which in Brazil is being coordinated by indigenous peoples from the five regions of the country and their organizations.