Although thrilled that his commitment to preserving the rights of the indigenous peoples and his research in the Arecuna language have been recognised, national awardee Lawrence Anselmo says more needs to be done to protect the language or it could be lost.
“If nothing is done to protect it, I am afraid we will lose it among the younger ones. They don’t understand the importance of it now. Among those of my age group, there is a lot of concern that we need to preserve the language. Our language was not a written language… but it is time that it is… done in written form. Those of us who went to school and can write with this modern technology, we can be able to record it properly before it is lost,” Anselmo told Stabroek News in a recent interview.
