Indigenous Languages in Brazil. A Country between Monolingualism and Plurilingualism

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Speech Science / Linguistics grade: 10 University of Bremen course: Sprachpolitik Sprachenrechte Sprachplanung language: English abstract: This paper mainly focuses on indigenous languages indigenous laws and rights as well as indigenous education. The first chapter deals with indigenous peoples in Brazil their geopolitical situation their languages and linguistic prejudices towards them. The second chapter focuses on how indigenous languages are promoted. This includes how indigenous school- and university programs have evolved in the last centuries and especially in the last decade and how didactic materials have also improved. Finally a conclusion is drawn followed-up by the list of sources and declaration about the authenticity of this term paper.Brazil is generally speaking a country of diversity. It is not only known to have the planet's largest remaining rainforest and wildlife but it is also known to be rich in culture. It must also be said that it has always been a migration country. Thus in the last five centuries people from all over the world immigrated to Brazil and brought foreign rituals and traditions with them which eventually also enriched the Brazilian culture. However before becoming a Portuguese colony in 1500 Brazil was already inhabited by many indigenous peoples. The majority of them had been extinct through the colonization process but even after that indigenous people had to struggle and fight for their lives. Sadly this condition remains to be true nowadays.Although Portuguese is the official and most spoken language in Brazil there are also about 215 other languages that are spoken in this country (Müller de Oliveira: 2009; p. 20). Most of those languages are spoken by indigenous peoples. Thus Brazil can undoubtedly be considered to be multilingual. This vast linguistic variety however is neither promoted nor apprehended properly by the Brazilian government alt