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Matsés language
Matsés, also referred to as Mayoruna in Brazil, is an indigenous language utilized by the Matsés, inhabitants of the border regions of Brazil and Peru. Matsés communities are located along the Javari River basin of the Amazon, which forms part of the border between Brazil and Peru; hence the term river people. This term, previously used by Jesuits to refer to inhabitants of that area, is not formally a word in the Matsés language. The language is vigorous and is spoken by all age groups in the Matsés communities. Several other indigenous are also spoken in Matsés communities by women captured from neighboring tribes and some mixture of the languages occur. Dialects are Peruvian Matsés, Brazilian Matsés, and the extinct Paud Usunkid.
A term with Quechua origins, Mayoruna translates to mayu = river; runa = people. Colonizers and missionaries during the 17th century used this term to refer to the Indigenous peoples that occupied the lower Ucayali Region, Upper Solimões and the Vale do Javari.
From research gathered in 2003, Fleck states that the Matsés language is spoken by approximately 2,000-2,200 Matsés, since being contacted in 1969. In Brazil, the Matsés inhabit the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory (IT) that covers 8,519,800 hectares of land. The land is distributed among eight communities that are mostly located within the IT borders. According to a more recent census (2007), the population of Matsés in Brazil was 1,143 people. Meanwhile, in 1998, the Peruvian Matsés population reached a total of 1,314 people.
It is very common for Matsés families in the northern Pano group to shift between villages, including across national borders. As a result, it becomes difficult to establish trustworthy data for the Matsés populations in Brazil and Peru. Currently, Matsés in Brazil identify themselves as monolingual, since most children in Matsés communities are nurtured and taught exclusively in the Matsés language. For this reason, the level of endangerment of the language is relatively low. The Instituto Socioambiental states: "Only those people who have worked or studied in the surrounding Peruvian or Brazilian towns speak Portuguese or Spanish fluently." This strongly indicates that the language will sustain itself throughout generations. One of the most important functions of language is to produce a social reality that is reflective of that language's culture. When children are raised learning the language, the continuation of the cultural traditions, values, and beliefs is enabled, reducing the chances of that language becoming endangered.
Compared to the other groups in the northern Pano subset, the Matsés have the largest population.
The origin of the Matsés is directly related to the merger of various Indigenous communities that did not always speak mutually intelligible languages. Historically, the Matsés participated in looting and planned raids on other Pano groups. The incentive for these attacks involved the massacre of that particular Pano group's Indigenous men, so that their women and children became powerless due to a lack of protection. The Matsés, consequently, would use their superiority and dominance, by killing off warriors of the other Indigenous' groups so that the women and children of the other groups would have no other choice but to join the Matsés, where they would have to assimilate. From approximately the 1870s to about the 1920s, the Matsés lost their access to the Javari River due to the boom of the rubber industry which was centered in the Amazon basin, where the extraction and commercialization of rubber threatened the Matsés lifestyle. During this period, the Matsés avoided conflict with non-Indigenous people and relocated to interfluvial areas, while maintaining a pattern of dispersal that allowed them to avoid the rubber extraction fronts. Direct contact between the Matsés and non-Indigenous people commenced around the 1920s. In a 1926 interview between Romanoff and a Peruvian man working on the Gálvez river, the Peruvian declared that rubber bosses were unable to set up on the Choba river due to Indigenous attacks. These attacks ignited a response from the non-Indigenous people, who kidnapped Matsés woman and children. This resulted in intensified warfare, and successful Matsés attacks meant that they were able to recover their people, along with firearms and metal tools. Meanwhile, warfare between the Matsés and other Indigenous groups continued. By the 1950s, the wave of rubber tappers fizzled out and was later replaced by "logging activity and the trade in forest game and skins, mainly to supply the towns of Peruvian Amazonia."
Presently, the Matsés have failed to receive adequate health care for over a decade. Consequently, diseases such as "malaria, worms, tuberculosis, malnutrition and hepatitis" have continued without reduction. The lack of organization and distribution of appropriate vaccinations, medication and prevention methods has resulted in high levels of deaths among the Matsés. The main problem is that most Indigenous communities lack medications or medical tools – microscopes, needles, thermometers – that help make basic diagnoses. For instance, Matsés today suffer "high levels of hepatitis B and D infections" and hepatic complications such as hepatitis D can cause death in a matter of days. It also causes the Matsés communities to distrust the use of vaccines. These people now fear falling ill, and do not receive clear information as to what caused the symptoms of their deceased kin. Sadly, "The Matsés do not know how many of them are infected, but the constant loss of young people, most of them under 30 years old, generates a pervasive mood of sadness and fear."
In Brazil, Matsés communities are considered to be monolingual, so teachers are recruited from the community itself. Teachers tend to be elders; individuals that the community trusts to teach the youth although they have never completed formal teacher training. Attempts have been made to promote Indigenous teacher training. The state education secretary for the Amazons has been formally running a training course, but lack of organization means that the classes are offered only sporadically. Presently, only two Matsés schools exist, constructed by the Atalaia do Norte municipal council. Despite complaints from the Matsés communities, funding and construction of official Matsés schools is rare. As a consequence, Matsés parents, who hope to provide their family with higher education and greater job opportunities, send their children to neighbouring towns for their education. The lack of Matsés schools—that would have focused on Indigenous knowledge, culture, and language—consequently raises the likelihood of children assimilating into a culture unlike their own, decreasing the chances of cultural transmission to the next generation.
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Matsés language
Matsés, also referred to as Mayoruna in Brazil, is an indigenous language utilized by the Matsés, inhabitants of the border regions of Brazil and Peru. Matsés communities are located along the Javari River basin of the Amazon, which forms part of the border between Brazil and Peru; hence the term river people. This term, previously used by Jesuits to refer to inhabitants of that area, is not formally a word in the Matsés language. The language is vigorous and is spoken by all age groups in the Matsés communities. Several other indigenous are also spoken in Matsés communities by women captured from neighboring tribes and some mixture of the languages occur. Dialects are Peruvian Matsés, Brazilian Matsés, and the extinct Paud Usunkid.
A term with Quechua origins, Mayoruna translates to mayu = river; runa = people. Colonizers and missionaries during the 17th century used this term to refer to the Indigenous peoples that occupied the lower Ucayali Region, Upper Solimões and the Vale do Javari.
From research gathered in 2003, Fleck states that the Matsés language is spoken by approximately 2,000-2,200 Matsés, since being contacted in 1969. In Brazil, the Matsés inhabit the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory (IT) that covers 8,519,800 hectares of land. The land is distributed among eight communities that are mostly located within the IT borders. According to a more recent census (2007), the population of Matsés in Brazil was 1,143 people. Meanwhile, in 1998, the Peruvian Matsés population reached a total of 1,314 people.
It is very common for Matsés families in the northern Pano group to shift between villages, including across national borders. As a result, it becomes difficult to establish trustworthy data for the Matsés populations in Brazil and Peru. Currently, Matsés in Brazil identify themselves as monolingual, since most children in Matsés communities are nurtured and taught exclusively in the Matsés language. For this reason, the level of endangerment of the language is relatively low. The Instituto Socioambiental states: "Only those people who have worked or studied in the surrounding Peruvian or Brazilian towns speak Portuguese or Spanish fluently." This strongly indicates that the language will sustain itself throughout generations. One of the most important functions of language is to produce a social reality that is reflective of that language's culture. When children are raised learning the language, the continuation of the cultural traditions, values, and beliefs is enabled, reducing the chances of that language becoming endangered.
Compared to the other groups in the northern Pano subset, the Matsés have the largest population.
The origin of the Matsés is directly related to the merger of various Indigenous communities that did not always speak mutually intelligible languages. Historically, the Matsés participated in looting and planned raids on other Pano groups. The incentive for these attacks involved the massacre of that particular Pano group's Indigenous men, so that their women and children became powerless due to a lack of protection. The Matsés, consequently, would use their superiority and dominance, by killing off warriors of the other Indigenous' groups so that the women and children of the other groups would have no other choice but to join the Matsés, where they would have to assimilate. From approximately the 1870s to about the 1920s, the Matsés lost their access to the Javari River due to the boom of the rubber industry which was centered in the Amazon basin, where the extraction and commercialization of rubber threatened the Matsés lifestyle. During this period, the Matsés avoided conflict with non-Indigenous people and relocated to interfluvial areas, while maintaining a pattern of dispersal that allowed them to avoid the rubber extraction fronts. Direct contact between the Matsés and non-Indigenous people commenced around the 1920s. In a 1926 interview between Romanoff and a Peruvian man working on the Gálvez river, the Peruvian declared that rubber bosses were unable to set up on the Choba river due to Indigenous attacks. These attacks ignited a response from the non-Indigenous people, who kidnapped Matsés woman and children. This resulted in intensified warfare, and successful Matsés attacks meant that they were able to recover their people, along with firearms and metal tools. Meanwhile, warfare between the Matsés and other Indigenous groups continued. By the 1950s, the wave of rubber tappers fizzled out and was later replaced by "logging activity and the trade in forest game and skins, mainly to supply the towns of Peruvian Amazonia."
Presently, the Matsés have failed to receive adequate health care for over a decade. Consequently, diseases such as "malaria, worms, tuberculosis, malnutrition and hepatitis" have continued without reduction. The lack of organization and distribution of appropriate vaccinations, medication and prevention methods has resulted in high levels of deaths among the Matsés. The main problem is that most Indigenous communities lack medications or medical tools – microscopes, needles, thermometers – that help make basic diagnoses. For instance, Matsés today suffer "high levels of hepatitis B and D infections" and hepatic complications such as hepatitis D can cause death in a matter of days. It also causes the Matsés communities to distrust the use of vaccines. These people now fear falling ill, and do not receive clear information as to what caused the symptoms of their deceased kin. Sadly, "The Matsés do not know how many of them are infected, but the constant loss of young people, most of them under 30 years old, generates a pervasive mood of sadness and fear."
In Brazil, Matsés communities are considered to be monolingual, so teachers are recruited from the community itself. Teachers tend to be elders; individuals that the community trusts to teach the youth although they have never completed formal teacher training. Attempts have been made to promote Indigenous teacher training. The state education secretary for the Amazons has been formally running a training course, but lack of organization means that the classes are offered only sporadically. Presently, only two Matsés schools exist, constructed by the Atalaia do Norte municipal council. Despite complaints from the Matsés communities, funding and construction of official Matsés schools is rare. As a consequence, Matsés parents, who hope to provide their family with higher education and greater job opportunities, send their children to neighbouring towns for their education. The lack of Matsés schools—that would have focused on Indigenous knowledge, culture, and language—consequently raises the likelihood of children assimilating into a culture unlike their own, decreasing the chances of cultural transmission to the next generation.
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