This project will document and revitalize the Iskonawa language, one of the 30 existing Pano languages from the Amazon. Iskonawa is almost extinct, but still fluently spoken by a few elders and partially by some of their descendants, totaling around 14 known speakers. There is also an Iskonawa community of around 80 members living in voluntary isolation on the border between Peru and Brazil.
First, the project intends to develop a high-quality audiovisual database including lexical and textual material, testimonies, and ethnographic information. Second, the project will train the younger members of the Iskonawa community in re-learning the language, compiling material, documenting it and teaching it to future generations. The knowledge gained through the study of the Iskonawa language and culture will help to preserve a vast legacy of cultural production in the form of songs, rituals, dances and, mainly, oral narratives. Iskonawa represents a critical case of an indigenous language in a rapid process of disappearing. It has not been completely assimilated by the Shipibo-Konibo language, as linguists usually thought.
Recent field research (summer of 2011) has demonstrated that Iskonawa still has an independent life of its own. Specialists in different disciplines form the team of researchers. Their goals transcend just language documentation and involve ethnographic compilations, community development, language revitalization and cultural empowerment.
An important feature of this project is the training and participation of both students and native speakers in language documentation, linguistic analysis and development of materials. The project will produce a comprehensive database in a website that will organize the basic information about grammar, vocabulary and the oral tradition of the Iskonawa language and people. Part of this database will be included in a trilingual DVD (Iskonawa, Spanish, English). The project will also contribute to the better education of international public and Peruvian people about the richness of their linguistic and cultural diversity.
