Events

• Mon

  23

  Mar

  2026

  Didier Demolin (Université Sorbonne nouvelle, CNRS & Rhodes University Makhanda) & Francisco Mendes (Federal University of Brasilia) - "Acoustic features and grammatical structures of Muriqui vocalizations"

  3:00 pmBlandijn 2 3.30 (Camelot)

  Vocal communication of the Muriqui

  Abstract:
  What can we learn from animal communication, if we set this issue in terms of evolution? Comparisons with animal communication lead to a better understanding of some of the principles underlying human languages. Muriqui (Brachyteles hypoxantus) show that the acoustics of their vocalizations are generated from a set limited features in addition to showing non-linear characters in their voice source. A close examination of the communication system of the muriqui also shows that the recombination of discrete elements in part of their vocal communication shows both recursion and grammatical structure.

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• Mon

  20

  Apr

  2026

  Annachiara Clementelli - t.b.a.

  3:00 pm

Event Information:

• Tue

  06

  Feb

  2024

  Bernat Bardagil-Mas (UGent) – “Language documentation and revitalization of Mỹky, in Brazilian Amazonia”

  2:00 pmBlandijn Room 3.30 (Camelot)

  This presentation discusses recent language documentation and revitalization work among the Mỹky and Manoki nations in Brazilian southern Amazonia, as well as the revitalization of the traditional jakuli genre of dance and music. Mỹky is an isolated indigenous Amazonian language spoken in north-western Mato Grosso, in Brazil, by two communities: the Manoki (Iranxe) and the Mỹky (Monserrat 2010; Bardagil 2023). The two communities went through different contact periods with colonial Brazilian society, which resulted in different sociolinguistic situations. While the Manoki dialect of the language is severely threatened, with only three members of the community (~400) being able to speak it today, it is spoken as a first language by most of the Mỹky group (~100).
  Since 2019 I have been working alongside the Manoki community to preserve and reclaim their indigenous language, which led to the creation of the Watjuho Ja'a Collective and the organization of several intensive schools for Manoki language, and to several initiatives to reinforce musical and spiritual community practices that are closely connected with the orally-transmitted heritage of this threatened indigenous nation.

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