Documentation of Kanamari language and culture

The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide to for the linguistic documentation of endangered language and knowledge. Grantees create multimedia collection of endangered languages. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) housed at the library of SOAS University of London.

Kanamari (knm) is a language of the Katukinan family spoken by 2,000 people in Brazil's Amazon region (7°3'30"S 69°41'30"W). This documentation will include audio and video recordings, especially of threatened traditional events, with transcriptions and annotations, and a Kanamari-Portuguese-English dictionary. The data will be archived with ELAR and the Goeldi Museum in Belém, Brazil. The project will provide a phonetic description and a phonological analysis of the language, necessary for an adequate orthography, much desired by the speakers, who will be trained in this orthography, which will also be used for the transcription of the recordings. Primary investigator: Stefan Dienst

Project Details


Location: Brazil, South America, Brazil, Americas, United States of America Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): Johann Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £112,982.00 Commencement Date: 01/2006
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