Kaingang (kanhgág)

Kaingang is spoken people in the Brazilian states of
São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sulin.
It is a member of the Macro-Gê or Gê family of languages.
There are about 29,000 Kaingang people and about 18,000 of them speak
Kaingang language. Alternative names for this language include
Kaingáng /Caingangue

A school to teach the Kaingang people to read and write their
own language was set up in 1969. Since then it has trained a number of
Kaingang as teachers, who have gone back to their reservations and
taught others to read and write. This has helped give the Kaingang
a pride in their language and themselves.

There are at least four different dialects of Kaingang, one of
which is used as the standard written form. A Kaingang translation
of the bible was published in 1977, and there is also a dictionary
and a number of other publications in Kaingang.

Kaingang pronunciation

Information compiled by Marcelo Manschein who got the information
about pronunciation from the linguist Wilmar da Rocha D’Angelis

Sample text in Kaingang (Kanhgág Tẽtá Fi)

Portuguese version (A mulher Kaingang)

Uma índia é uma grande liderança na aldeia.
Antigamente ela não entrava na escola, ela trabalhava só
dentro de casa com sua mãe. Ela não dava conselho. E ela
também não aconselhava quando acontecia alguma coisa. Depois
que ela casou vivia sob o conselho do seu marido.

Ela fazia as coisas dentro de casa, ela também cuidava dos seus
filhos. Ela também trabalhava na roça. Era ela quem sofria
muito. Quando ela queria alguma coisa, ela falava para o seu marido. Quando
seus filhos ficavam doentes, ela mesma ia atrás do remédio.

Source: http://www.portalkaingang.org/index_t_indio_I_1.htm

English translation

An Indian woman has considerable leadership powers in her village [these
days]. Formerly she would not go to school. She would only work in the house
with her mother. She would have no say, not even when anything extraordinary
happened. Once married, she would live under her husband’s rule.

She would do the housework and would also take care of his children. She
would work in the plantation as well. It was she who would suffer very much.
When she needed anything, she would have to ask her husband for it. When
her children were ill, it would be up to her to obtain medicine.

English translation by Reinhard F. Hahn