The Indigenous Peoples Commission of the Paraguayan Senate launched a quadrilingual Ayoreo-Spanish-Guarani-Portuguese dictionary, an initiative to preserve the culture of the Ayoreo people.
“Languages are of vital importance to people and societies; they are the basis of our thinking, of communication, of cultural transmission, of social integration, of development,” said Mario Samaja, resident ambassador to the United Nations, during the launch.
The four-volume dictionary will be delivered to indigenous schools in the Chaco region.
According to local press reports, members of the Ayoreo people living in Alto Paraguay were the driving force behind the initiative, as their children do not speak Spanish or Portuguese.
Ayoreo leaders Vicente Chiqueno and José Iquebi performed sacred chants and rituals before an audience in the Bicameral Hall of Congress during the dictionary launch.
The authors of the material are Deisy Amarilla, director of the Senate’s Indigenous Peoples Commission, in addition to Óscar Posoraja, Armindo Barrios, José Zanardini, Vicente Chiqueno, and José María Rodrigues.
According to a press release from the Senate, this dictionary is a communication tool for the localities of Carmelo Peralta de Alto Paraguay and Porto Mortinho (Brazil), areas where four different cultures and languages converge.
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They will be strongly linked by circulation through the bridge crossing connecting the great bioceanic route from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.
With information from Sputnik
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