📘 What does it mean to write a grammar entirely in an Indigenous language—for use in Indigenous schools—and publish it as a scientific article?

A new publication in Cadernos de Linguística does exactly that. The article presents the methodological foundations of a school grammar written fully in Wai Wai, a Brazilian Indigenous language that is still used daily in homes, classrooms, and community gatherings.

The work stands out not only for its pedagogical value, but also for its political importance: it’s authored by Indigenous teachers and offers a model of how grammar teaching can be community-led, culturally grounded, and linguistically sovereign.

As noted by linguist Ana Suelly Arruda Câmara Cabral, this is pioneering work—one that should inspire other educators and researchers working with languages that are still alive and central to everyday life.

🔗 Read the full article (open access): https://doi.org/10.25189/2675-4916.2025.V6.N3.ID810
#IndigenousEducation #Linguistics #LanguageRevitalization #WaiWai #OpenScience

📚 Wai Wai educators and the making of a community-based grammar

The Wai Wai are an Indigenous people of the Karib language family who live in the Wayamu Territory—across parts of northern Brazil, as well as neighboring regions of Guyana and Suriname. Their history includes forced displacements, interethnic contact, and continued resistance to external pressures.

Since the 1970s, the Wai Wai have returned to ancestral lands in Brazil, establishing villages like Mapuera and Jatapuzinho. Through their own association (APIW), they defend territorial rights and lead initiatives grounded in cultural and linguistic autonomy.

One such initiative is the creation of a school grammar written in the Wai Wai language by Wai Wai teachers. Based on oral histories and actual language use, this grammar was developed collectively between 2014 and 2019 in training workshops and educational gatherings.

The process is documented in the article:
“Wai Wai Pedagogical Grammar: reflections and methodological practices on developing didactic material for an Indigenous community”.

The publication highlights how education becomes a tool of resistance—connecting language, memory, and self-determination.

🪶 Read the full article:
👉 https://doi.org/10.25189/2675-4916.2025.v6.n3.id810

#IndigenousLanguages #LanguageDocumentation #WaiWai #LinguisticJustice #OpenAccess #DecolonizingEducation