The Laboratory of Indigenous Languages and Literatures of the Institute of Letters of the University of Brasília
The Laboratory of Indigenous Languages and Literatures was created by Aryon Dall'Igna Rodrigues in July 1999. It belongs to the Institute of Letters of UnB and serves the Postgraduate Program in Linguistics (master's and doctorate). The LALLI project aims at the training of new researchers and the promotion of documentary, analytical and theoretical research on the indigenous languages spoken in Brazil.
The training of researchers has been carried out through the reception and supervision / supervision of undergraduate students in the Program of Scientific Initiation (PIC / PIBIC / PROIC) and postgraduate courses in the master's and doctoral programs of the Postgraduate Program in Linguistics of UnB (PPGL).
The research developed by LALLI is both synchronic and diachronic. It is stimulated the practice of field documentation and phonological and grammatical analysis, under descriptive and functional approaches, mainly. The diachronic contribution is promoted by applying a comparative-historical methodology, addressing both the comparison of new lexical and grammatical data for better determination of genetic relationships between languages, as well as the revision and systematization of old data, especially for missing languages, documented only in the past.
It also supports the development of competence in the reconstruction of prehistoric phases of language families. In LALLI, a database of Brazilian indigenous languages with sonore data and written documents has been organized, not only produced by recent research, but also including old, unpublished or rare publication documents. It also invests in the training of students to work with these data, with aiming at its conservation and, in the case of unpublished material, its critical edition. Other LALLI activities include support for language teaching programs for indigenous communities.
LALLI has stimulated the Postgraduate Program in Linguistics of UnB to admit indigenous students graduated in other universities. Eight indigenous finished their mater thesis on phonological and grammatical of their respective languages and four Indians have finished dissertations in dialecological and discourse analysis studies.. Four indigenous students completed a doctorate on grammatical aspects of their respective languages. Currently, there are 12 indigenous students in the PPGL.
A characteristic of LALLI has been the concern with the languages most threatened with extinction or in other situations of risk. In addition to guiding the study of languages with only a few speakers (Avá-Canoeirao, Piripkúra, Apiaká, Yawalapíti), the LALLI team has cooperated with FUNAI's isolated Indian program, which has been providing linguistic support on several fronts. At LALLI, we have associate researchers: Lyle Richard Capmpbell (University of Hawai'i Manoa), Dulce Francesquini (UFCH), Fabio Bonfim Duarte (UFMG), Ruth Monserrat (FRJ), Sanderson Castro Soares de Oliveira (UFAM), Maxwell Miranda (UFMT), Andérbio Márcio Martins UFGD), Eliete de Jesus Bararuá solano (UEPA), Lucivaldo Silva da Costa (UNIFESPA), Fábio Pereira Couto (UNIR), Jorge Domingues Lopes (UFPA) and Rodrigo Prudente Contrin (UEG).
It is noteworthy that LALLI has become known as a promoter of scientific meetings and publisher. It promoted I, II, III, IV and the V International Meeting on Languages and Cultures of the Tupí Peoples (2004 and 20013), the III Macro-Jê Meeting (2005) and the VII MAcro-Jê Meeting (2010), the Workshop on Historical Linguistics and Languages in Contact: Indigenous Languages of Brazil and Adjacent Areas (2003), the Workshop on Threatened Indigenous Languages: Strategies for Strengthening and Revitalizing (2007). Held the International Meeting Archeology and Historical Linguistics of the South American Indigenous Languages, Brasília 2011. Organized the Workshop on TIME, ASPECT AND MODALITY IN SOUTH AMERICAN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES, from May 24 to 27, 2012. He also organized the Tribute to Aryon Dall'Igna Rodrigues August 4-6, 2016 and the First Meeting of Indigenous Linguists of Brazil, November 14-16, 2018.
Organized the publication of the books New studies on indigenous languages, Brasília: EdUnB, 2005; Languages and cultures Macro-Jê, Brasília: EdUnB, 2007; Languages and cultures Tupí, Vol. I; Languages and Cultures Tupí, Vol. I I and Languages and Cultures Tupí, Vol. III. Campinas: Ed Curt Nimuendajú and Brasília: LALLI; Languages and Cultures Tupí, Vol. IV; and Languages and Cultures Tupí, n. 5. He edited the Book, CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE INVENTORY OF THE ASURINÍ DO TOCANTINS LANGUAGE, Pilot project for the general methodology of the National Inventory of Linguistic Diversity. He also published the translation of the Versuch einer Grammatik der Tupari-Sprache (Die Struktur der Tupari-Sprache for Portuguese, "Sketch of the Grammar of the Tupari Language", by Aryon Dall'Igna Rodrigues and Franz Caspar (1977), LALLI 2017, 114 pp.
LAlLI regularly maintains the Brazilian Journal of Anthropological Linguistics.”Revista Brasileira de Linguística Antropológica”
http://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/ling/index
LALLI is coordinated by Ana Suelly Arruda Câmara Cabral.
CV: http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/visualizacv.do?metodo=apresentar&id=K4787503Y6
e-mail: asacczoe@gmail.com