Salesians Preserve Indigenous Languages in Mato Grosso

Salesians Preserve Indigenous Languages in Mato Grosso

(ANS – Campo Grande, Brazil – December 18, 2025) – The preservation of indigenous mother tongues has become a global concern. Fr. Tiago Figueiró, a Salesian and researcher on the subject, explains that the Salesians of the Campo Grande Brazil Province (BCG) have been addressing this challenge since they first began working among the Bororo indigenous people in 1895 and among the Xavante in 1957. The cultural diversity of peoples, in fact, finds its greatest heritage in language.

An innovative project combines tradition and artificial intelligence

Dr Fabricio Ferraz Gerardi, a past student of the Pontifical Salesian University (UPS) in Rome, presented an innovative linguistic project on September 4, which was promptly accepted by the Association of Salesian Historians (ACSSA) Brazil Section. This proposal gives continuity to the work of systematizing, preserving, and teaching the Bororo and Xavante languages, integrating new technologies and artificial intelligence into its methodology.

Pioneering linguistic documentation

In 1908, the Salesians of Brazil published  Elements of Grammar and Dictionary of the Bororo Language. The Salesian researcher recounts that the National Exhibition in Rio de Janeiro received this work just 6 years after contact with the Eastern Bororos. The mission presented the beautiful language in which the Bororo express themselves, thanks to an ethnographic and linguistic collaboration that arose from a long and rigorous process of approaching and integrating with the indigenous communities.

Fr. Figueiró emphasizes that the Salesians listened to the speakers and learned the mother tongue directly. Systematic recording documented usage, structures, and meanings. The Bororo Encyclopedia is a milestone in the history of indigenous linguistic and cultural documentation in Brazil, with researchers in the fields of linguistics, anthropology, ethnology, and indigenous education still consulting the work today. Methodological care and fidelity to indigenous sources characterized this work, where respect for the symbolic, social, and cosmological complexity of the Bororo people is evident on every page. The work therefore still stands today as a documentary heritage serving to preserve the memory, language, and identity of the people.

Indigenous school education gains a permanent structure

The BCG Province thus became the first reference point for Bororo and Xavante school education. Fr. Figueiró reports that the Indigenous Missionary Council and OPAN promoted the involvement of the state in courses for indigenous teachers thru the Tucum and Raiô projects. These projects paved the way for subsequent achievements: the State of Mato Grosso created the State University of Mato Grosso in 1993, while the State Council for Indigenous School Education was established in 1995 and the Intercultural Indigenous Faculty of Unemat began its activities in 1997.

The U.N. declares the decade of indigenous languages

The United Nations, in coordination with UNESCO, declared the years 2022 to 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages. This, as Fr. Figueiró explained, is of great importance for Brazil and for the state of Mato Grosso in particular, which is home to 43 indigenous peoples speaking 41 different languages.

The Salesian researcher recounts that the missionary presence among the Bororo and Xavante peoples produced the document “Together in Mission” in 2022, a text that emphasizes the need for the Bororos to learn their mother tongue and for the Xavantes to learn Portuguese. The document values the “cultural heritage of the people with their language, body, soul, and symbols” and states that the community must engage in “the creation, with boldness and creativity, of a method for learning the Xavante, Bororo, and Portuguese languages.” The text also makes possible the “knowledge and dissemination of the history, language, and culture, myths, and religions” of these peoples.

International specialists provide advice on the project

In 2022, the Salesians invited Prof. Fabricio Ferraz Gerardi, PhD in computational linguistics and lecturer at the University of Tübingen, Germany, to advise on an innovative approach; a mission joined in 2024 by Prof. Ivan Roksandic of the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The State Education Secretariat, in collaboration with the Salesians, promoted the formation of Bororo teachers between 2024 and 2025. and in 2025, at the Second Seminar on Indigenous Mother Tongues, Prof. Ferraz Gerardi presented the topic “New technologies for the study of indigenous languages and education,” which addressed the adoption of Artificial Intelligence for the purpose of language preservation.

Public policies advance in language protection

Ministry of Education Ordinance No. 539 of  July 24, 2025, approved the National Policy on Indigenous School Education in Ethno-educational Territories. The Salesian researcher reports that on June 25, 2024, the Legislative Assembly of the State of Mato Grosso received a bill establishing a state policy for the Protection of Indigenous Languages in Mato Grosso. In this regard, the Salesians of BCG will promote, in collaboration with the State, a thematic roundtable on February 5, 2026, where digital platforms for indigenous education will be discussed.

Digital platforms transform language teaching

Digital platforms for language education are already a reality in the making. Fr. Figueiró explains that Artificial Intelligence is being used to support documentation, teacher formation, teaching, and the production of bilingual teaching materials, and that the Bororo, Xavante, Enawene-Nawe, Pareci, and Rikbaktsa communities are using these resources as part of a project in which the Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI) and the Catholic School of Mato Grosso are established partners.