The Matis people (also called Matsë in their own native language) are an indigenous people of Brazil . The Matis are commonly named the Jaguar people by tourists and filmmakers, but they do not like the name. They live in three separate communities with a total population of roughly 340. They live in the far west of Brazil , in the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory , an area covering 83,000 square kilometres (32,000 sq mi). They practice hunting, fishing, foraging and agriculture. Now, they also receive money from their work as teachers, health assistants, and surveillance of the territory for FUNAI, for example, and the elders receive pensions from the government (registered as retired farmers, as other traditional communities also have the right for in Brazil).
23-583: The Matis language belongs to the Panoan family from the Amazonian area of Brazil. Before contact, the Matis assumed passenger airplanes were xokeke , the spirits of their ancestors. They also assumed bush planes were binkeke , a kind of strange demon-bird. This tribe saw the two kinds of airplanes as distinct phenomena, since passenger planes would appear to be smaller than the bush planes (which fly closer to
46-413: A better understanding of events surrounding and following their first contact over 30 years ago. Whereas elder Matis traditionalists are keen to retain and in some cases readopt their old way of life, the younger Matis have been influenced by the modern outside world and want closer ties with modern Brazil, particularly for education. On October 31, 2009, members of the Matis tribe located nine survivors of
69-591: A complex morphological structure similar to that of other Pano languages. Due to the high prevalence of morphemes in Matis language, it is considered by most linguists to be a polysynthetic language . There are two general classes of morphemes used in Matis: simple and complex. Simple morphemes are those that denote a single meaning; complex morphemes contain multiple meanings. The morphological processes used in Matis are prefixation , suffixation , reduplication , and atonalization, with prefixation utilized very rarely and
92-621: A plane crash near the Ituí River then contacted the Brazilian Air Force. Matis language Matis is a language spoken by the indigenous Matis people in the state of Amazonas in Brazil . The Fundação Nacional do Índio (Funai) was a key player in establishing first contact with the Matis community. After the construction of a major highway through the region, Funai began receiving reports of uncontacted peoples in
115-403: A third of their population, devoid of natural immunity or any remedies for them. In 1981, over 50 Matis people died of disease, so the survivors moved to the Ituí River . By 1983, only 87 Matis people survived. The decade also saw the loss of three of their villages which now, completely abandoned, are occasionally visited by the Matis to harvest fruit trees. Time has probably given the Matis
138-485: Is ⟨ ʊʷ ⟩ or ⟨ ɯ̽ʷ ⟩ (a near-close back vowel modified by endolabialization), but this could be misread as a diphthong. The close-mid near-back protruded vowel can be transcribed ⟨ ʊ̞ʷ ⟩ or ⟨ ʊ̫˕ ⟩, whereas the fully back near-close protruded vowel can be transcribed ⟨ u̞ʷ ⟩, ⟨ ɯ̞ʷ ⟩ or ⟨ u̫˕ ⟩. Because back rounded vowels are assumed to have protrusion, and few descriptions cover
161-474: Is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages . The IPA symbol that represents this sound is ⟨ ʊ ⟩. It is informally called "horseshoe u". Prior to 1989, there was an alternative IPA symbol for this sound, ⟨ ɷ ⟩, called "closed omega "; use of this symbol is no longer sanctioned by the IPA. In Americanist phonetic notation , the symbol ⟨ ᴜ ⟩ (a small capital U)
184-687: Is an educational centre that was established in 1979 to educate current and future generations of members of the Pano language family. To ensure cultural survival for the Matis as well as other indigenous groups in the Vale de Javari, the Centro do Trabalho Indigenista uses professors who have been elected by local indigenous peoples to properly ensure their cultural values, day-to-day activities, and more importantly, languages are preserved to their standards. ( ʊ ) b d ( ɡ ) Matis language possesses
207-421: Is typically transcribed in IPA simply as ⟨ ʊ ⟩, and that is the convention used in this article. As there is no dedicated diacritic for protrusion in the IPA, symbol for the near-close back rounded vowel with an old diacritic for labialization, ⟨ ̫ ⟩, can be used as an ad hoc symbol ⟨ ʊ̫ ⟩ for the near-close back protruded vowel. Another possible transcription
230-493: Is used. Sometimes, especially in broad transcription , this vowel is transcribed with a simpler symbol ⟨ u ⟩, which technically represents the close back rounded vowel . Handbook of the International Phonetic Association defines [ʊ] as a mid-centralized ( lowered and centralized ) close back rounded vowel (transcribed [u̽] or [ü̞] ), and the current official IPA name of
253-461: The Shanghainese dialect is known to contrast this with the more typical protruded (endolabial) near-close back vowel, although the height of both of these vowels varies from close to close-mid. The fully back variant of the near-close compressed vowel can be transcribed ⟨ ɯ̞͡β̞ ⟩, ⟨ ɯ̞ᵝ ⟩ or ⟨ u͍˕ ⟩. Symbols to the right in a cell are voiced , to
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#1732786635203276-651: The IAP. Debates surround the actual number of indigenous Matis that died from exposure to foreign disease, but probable figures state that 35-50% of the population succumbed, with children and elders severely impacted. The Matis were later relocated by Funai to the Boeiro creek region, and this change of location coupled with the change in demographics caused the group to fragment into two distinct groups which are still present today. A new scarcity of available ingredients for preparing traditional substances for hunting and ritual caused
299-436: The IPA. However, the compression of the lips can be shown with the letter ⟨ β̞ ⟩ as ⟨ ɯ̽͡β̞ ⟩ (simultaneous [ɯ̽] and labial compression) or ⟨ ɯ̽ᵝ ⟩ ( [ɯ̽] modified with labial compression). The spread-lip diacritic ⟨ ͍ ⟩ may also be used with a rounded vowel letter ⟨ ʊ͍ ⟩ as an ad hoc symbol, though technically 'spread' means unrounded. Only
322-512: The Matis (Txami) who returned to the Coari River to start their own plantations. The relatively recent conflict between these groups has led to long lasting grudges, abductions, and murder. The acceptance of outside influences varies depending on the generations within the community. Elders are more hesitant, while other modern Matis generations are more receptive to schools and modern-day influences. The Centro do Trabalho Indigenista (CTI)
345-507: The Matis began making occasional visits to the Ituí IAP, where they were given resources such as metal tools and animals. By 1987, contacts between Funai and the Matis were becoming frequent and the Matis people had already suffered many cases of the flu . The spread of foreign diseases like influenza and measles intensified with the growing presence of rubber tappers and loggers in the region, and lack of warning and medical aid from
368-431: The distinction, some of the following may actually have compression. In the table below, vowels transcribed with ⟨ o̝ ⟩ have a considerably stronger rounding than the prototypical value of ⟨ ʊ ⟩. Some languages, such as Norwegian, are found with a near-close back vowel that has a distinct type of rounding , called compressed or exolabial . There is no dedicated diacritic for compression in
391-461: The ground). The Matis people were contacted by the Brazilian agency FUNAI during 1976-1978, although it was not until two years later in 1978 that FUNAI employees began visiting the then-five Matis villages, almost 2/3 of their population died from diseases and from lack of care. The 1980s represented a moment where the Matis faced genocide, with the arrival of Western disease killing roughly
414-588: The group to change from highly motile to predominantly sedentary, and created much conflict within the group. Along with the introduction of illness to indigenous Matis communities, there has been recent conflict between the Matis and Korubo communities living in the Vale do Javari . The Matis in the twentieth century have been said to have abducted two women from the Korubo community due to low numbers of women in theirs. The Korubo peoples had since attacked ancestors of
437-516: The latter three being more common. Nouns in the Matis language constitute an open class and are characterized by their case , gender , and number . The ergative , absolutive and comitative cases are used for nouns. Matis contains ergative , absolutive , and object pronouns . minbi 2SG . ERG -dapa - EMPH witsu bracelet ʃe- weave- -a - PAS.REC -k - DECL minbi -dapa witsu ʃe- -a -k 2SG.ERG -EMPH bracelet weave- - PAS.REC -DECL "It
460-614: The region. The Matis before this point in time were isolated and removed from any outside, non-indigenous contact and this highway acted as a path to resources, which would later assist the Matis, as well as other indigenous peoples. Funai went on to establish the Ituí Indigenous Attraction Post (IAP) on the bank of the Ituí river in 1974. Reports on the first contact with the Matis people conflict, but this event likely happened in 1975 or 1976. Soon after this period,
483-644: The symbol ⟨ ʊ̞ ⟩ (a lowered ⟨ ʊ ⟩) in narrow transcription. For the close-mid (near-)back rounded vowel that is not usually transcribed with the symbol ⟨ ʊ ⟩ (or ⟨ u ⟩), see close-mid back rounded vowel . In some other languages (such as Bengali and Luxembourgish ) as well as some dialects of English (such as Scottish ) there is a fully back near-close rounded vowel (a sound between cardinal [ u ] and [ o ] ), which can be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ ʊ̠ ⟩, ⟨ u̞ ⟩ or ⟨ o̝ ⟩. The near-close back protruded vowel
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#1732786635203506-490: The vowel transcribed with the symbol ⟨ ʊ ⟩ is near-close near-back rounded vowel . However, some languages have the close-mid near-back rounded vowel , a vowel that is somewhat lower than the canonical value of [ʊ] , though it still fits the definition of a mid-centralized [ u ] . It occurs in some dialects of English (such as General American and Geordie ) as well as some other languages (such as Maastrichtian Limburgish ). It can be transcribed with
529-503: Was you who made the bracelet." ɨnbi 1SG . ERG pusan preguiça -Ø - ABS pe- eat- -a - PAS.REC -k - DECL ɨnbi pusan -Ø pe- -a -k 1SG.ERG preguiça -ABS eat- - PAS.REC -DECL "I ate the preguiça" Bɨuʂ Bɨuʂ -ɨn - ERG takada hen -Ø - ABS Near-close near-back rounded vowel Legend: unrounded • rounded The near-close near-back rounded vowel , or near-high near-back rounded vowel ,
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