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INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE ACTIVISTS
Andrés Ozuna
Yshyr Chamacoco tribe of Paraguay
2009-
Rudolf Raward
Matugar Panau tribe of Papua New
Guinea 2009-
Andrés Ozuna
Yshyr Chamacoco tribe of Paraguay 2009-
Andrés Ozuna is an Yshyr Chamacoco
language activist from Karcha Bahlut,
Paraguay. With the assistance of an
Enduring Voices language technology kit,
Andrés has produced a bilingual Yshyr-Spanish
book on traditional plant uses among the
Yshyr (Ishiro ôreyuwo poruwo/Sabiduria
de los Ishir del Chaco). He has also
recently written a short book on the
Yshyr concept of truth in the Yshyr
Chamacoco language. At the Enduring
Voices language revitalization workshop
in Santa Fe, Andrés produced another
small booklet and the first-ever digital
storybook in the Yshyr Chamacoco
language. He is the primary figure
behind the Yshyr Chamacoco Talking Dictionary.
Today he is continuing his tireless
campaign to promote his native language
and working on a range of different
projects in Yshyr Chamacoco.
Andres Ozuna, a speaker
of Chamacoco from Paraguay,
records a story. Photo by
Chris Rainier.
Revitalization Workshop 2010 stories
Rudolf Raward
Matugar Panau tribe of Papua New Guinea 2009-
Rudolf Raward is a leader in the Panau-speaking
community of Matugar village, Madang Province, Papua
New Guinea. A former outstanding soccer goalkeeper,
Rudolf now is Director of the SAKY Organization,
which is devoted to the promotion and preservation
of the traditional culture and language of his
community. Panau is spoken by fewer than 500
speakers¬, has almost no child-age speakers and is
rarely used even by adults and elders. Panau is
spoken only in Matugar village and is therefore a
highly endangered and unique language. At the Santa
Fe workshop, Rudolf produced a digital storybook and
the first ever book published in the Panau language.
(back
row, l to r) Edwin Belgam, Griffen Mait,
Justin Willy, Berry Barui, Pangkratus
Omatil (front row, l to r) Michol Barui,
Thomas Kreno and Rudolf Raward, Matugar
village, 2010
Dr. Gracious M. Temsen is a member of the Khasi
tribe of Meghalaya state, in the northeast of India.
She is a professional linguist, the only member of
her tribe working as a professor of linguistics. She
is currently based at University of Hyderabad. Her
work focuses on the description and analysis of her
mother tongue, the Khasi language, which represents
its own sub-group of the Mon-Khmer language family.
According to Dr. Temsen, Khasi is actually a cluster
of closely related dialects and sister languages,
and the smallest ones are rapidly being lost. Dr.
Temsen produced a short digital storybook based on a
traditional Khasi folktale, as well as a short print
book at the Santa Fe workshop. As a Living Tongues
Institute Fellow, Dr. Temsen is conducting a study
of the minor Khasi ‘dialects’ or sister languages in
the important and still poorly known Khasic subgroup
of Mon-Khmer/Austroasiatic and a comparative Talking
Dictionary of the Khasic Languages.
Mark Franco
Winnemem Wintu tribe of California 2010-
Winnemem Wintu
Mark Franco is Headman of the Winnemem Wintu
community based at the Winnemem Wintu village
located outside of Redding, CA. An activist for the
Winnemem Wintu community, Mark is an expert in a
diverse array of topics ranging from indigenous
rights, water access and development, restoration of
the environment and return of the salmon to their
traditional territories, now prevented from reaching
the Winnemem or Middle Water (aka McCloud River) by
a dam. Mark is also spearheading the revitalization
efforts for the Winnemem Wintu language. At the
workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico led by the
Indigenous Language Institute and supported by
National Geographic’s Enduring Voices Project and
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages,
Mark produced a beautiful short film and a small
booklet in the revitalizing Winnemem Wintu.
Bhubeneshwar Sawaiyan is a Ho language activist from
Jharkhand state, India. An expert in tribal
journalism, Dr. Sawaiyan produced a digital
storybook on the traditional wedding practices of
the Ho people, who represent a large tribal minority
group whose language belongs to the Munda language
family. Dr. Sawaiyan also produced a short booklet
in the Ho language at the Santa Fe workshop held in
April, 2010. He is currently is the personal
secretary to Indian Government Minister, Dr. Ram
Dayal Munda, the most prominent and senior
government official representing a tribal community
in India.
