Língua, memória e identidade: a retomada linguística do povo Omágua (Kambeba) de São Paulo e Olivença do Alto Rio Solimões

Abstract

This dissertation aims to contribute to the development of the linguistic and cultural revitalization movement of the Omágua (Kambeba) people in the municipality of São Paulo de Olivença (SPO), located in the Alto Rio Solimões region. Like many other indigenous peoples, the Omágua (Kambeba) were forced to silence their language, which was almost completely supplanted by Portuguese. Currently, in the Omágua (Kambeba) communities of Alto Solimões, the language is maintained solely by the "rememberers" or "reminiscers," who only master a significant vocabulary and a certain number of phrases. This study, therefore, is linked to actions that have already been developed, contributing to the revitalization movement through the recording and documentation of our language and culture.Regarding linguistic records and documentation, the research presents a set of data from the Omágua (Kambeba) people of SPO, which were compared with the Omágua spoken in Peru (O'Hagan, 2011) and with Nheengatú (Cruz, 2013). This preliminary comparison pointed to an expected closeness between these languages. Furthermore, the study introduces an unprecedented proposal for the Omágua (Kambeba) revitalization movement, which involves the decision to also include Omágua from Peru (Iquitos and San Joaquin de Omágua) as a language of revitalization for the communities in the Alto Rio Solimões region.