Kayapo Language.

The Kayapo language is called simply Kayapo, but it also has an alternate name Kokraimoro. This language branch belongs to the Ge linguistic  family which is a branch of the Macro-Ge trunk. The Kayapo take their language very seriously and they find it as a highly valued social practice. They believe so highly in their language that if others don’t speak their language they do not believe them to speak anything quite as beautiful as them. And even though the Kayapo speak this unique language there are only roughly about 7,100 people who actually speak the language, these low numbers make a it a classified 6B endangered language in the world. Which is unfortunate  for the people in the Kayapo tribe. The main reason for this loss of language is the fact that many of the Kayapo people are learning the native language of Brazil which is Portuguese, by learning this new language that is the norm they are beginning to use it more and more which is thus wiping out the original Kayapo language. This all depends though on the depth of isolation each tribe experiences. I.E, if the tribe is set deep within the mountains they will all only speak Kokriamoro, but if they live closer to the cities they will speak more Portuguese which will cause them to lose the language faster.

Here is an example of a bible verse translated into the Kayapo language:

Sample Translation In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and  darkness covered the deep water. The spirit of God was hovering over the water. Then  God said, "Let there be light!" So there was light. God saw the light was good.So God  separated the light from the darkness. God named the light "day", and the darkness he  named "night". There was evening, then morning, the first day.

Name

The Mebêngôkre tribe is an indigenous group that is more commonly referred to as the Kayapo. Mebêngôkre, meaning "water-hole people" or " the men from the water hole", describes their location along the Xingu River in the Amazon basin. The term 'Kayapo was first coined at the beginning of the 19th Century and means "those who look like monkeys." This term was given to the Mebêngôkre by their enemies and probably  procured from a  ritual in which the men where monkey-like masks and perform short dances. Although society refers to them as the Kayapo, they continue to refer to themselves as Mebêngôkre.

Taylor, Leslie LT   2001 The Kayapo. Rainforest Database.  Accessed April 16, 2013. 

Marriage and Family

 The ideal candidates for marriage are the the young teenage woman of the village. Their partners are usually suggested by the family and their marriage isn't set in stone until the birth of their first child. Eventually every husband will have two to three wives with a couple of children running around. It is also a normal custom for Kayapo Indians to get married, split, and then remarry several times. The Kayapo practice monogamy. When a man marries he leaves what is known as the men's house to live under his wife's household yet the women never leave their maternal home. A home may consist of a mother and her husband as well as her daughters and their husband and children; when a home exceeds 40 people a new home is built to accommodate everyone.

(n.d.).

2006 Kayapos. Electronic Document,

      http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Brazil-to-Congo-Republic-of/Kayapos.html

O'Neill, M. 

 2012 Kayapo tribe. Electronic Document. 

      http://prezi.com/plt9xncxi4c2/kayapo-tribe/

Background Information and Population

The Kayapo inhabit five legally ratified indigenous territories in south of the state of Pará and the north of the Mato Grosso state. This contiguous block of five territories (nearly 105,000 km²) is home to approximately 7,000-8,000 Kayapo living in about 18 villages. The forest provides the Kayapo with all their subsistence needs. The Kayapó live a relatively traditional lifestyle subsisting primarily by gardening, fishing, hunting, and collecting forest products. Beading is an important part of Kayapó culture and a source of great pride among Kayapó women. Men, women, and children are always wearing vibrant and beautifully beaded pieces.  Kayapo society is communal and based on principles of egalitarianism with a rich ceremonial component that bonds community members into a single entity. This well developed social organization generates strength in leadership and solidarity to face threats to Kayapo land and culture.

The Kayapo, had been pushed eastward from woodland savanna into canopy forest by the advancing frontier, were “pacified” by government agencies and missionaries in the 1950s and 60s as their population underwent decimation by introduced diseases. As late as the 1960s, they were a warrior culture that practiced raiding against their neighbours, and boys were raised to fight.

Over the last three decades, Kayapo society has undergone many changes. Increasing contact with government agents, missionaries and others in the 1970s introduced superficial change, such as western clothing, use of guns and metal tools. During this period as well, land claims were heating up as the Kayapo militantly defended their traditional territories. In the mid-1980s, more drastic social change occurred as Kaypao leaders succumbed to the seduction of goods and money offered by illegal mahogany loggers and gold-miners seeking concessions on Kayapo lands. The Kayapó territory is surrounded by areas of vast environmental devastation caused by ranching, mining, and logging that threaten their traditional way of life.

González-Pérez, Sol, Pascale Robert, and Márlia Coelho-Ferreira.
    2013. "Seed Use and Socioeconomic  Significance in Kayapó Handicrafts: A Case            Study from Pará State, Brazil." Economic Botany 67, no. 1: 1-16. Environment
                        Index, EBSCOhost

Plenderleith, Kristina, and Darrell A. Posey.
    2002. Kayapó Ethnoecology and Culture [electronic resource]. n.p.: London : Routledge,

2002., 2002. University of South Florida Libraries Catalog, EBSCOhost

Taisa Figueira, Rodrigues.
    2006. "THE INDIGENOUS ICONOGRAHY THOUGH A DESIGN S POINT OF

VIEW: THE KAYAP S BODY ORNAMENTATION - A CASE STUDY."

RCAAP, EBSCOhost