Franz Caspar’s unpublished data
This collection contains unpublished data on Amazonian languages of Brazil and Bolivia, collected by the Swiss anthropologist dr. Franz Caspar (1916-1977). Additional language materials collected by dr. Emil-Heinrich Snethlage (1897-1939) and Tibor Sekelj (1912-1988) are also included.
The originals of dr. Caspar's data have been deposited at the University Library of Basle, Switzerland. These data have been digitized under the responsibility of prof. dr. Willem F.H. Adelaar and dr. Hélène B. Brijnen of the former Section Languages and Cultures of Indian America (Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University ) with the financial support of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) . Users are requested to indicate the identity of the compilers and the digitizing team in citations. For questions or comments please contact prof. dr. Willem F.H. Adelaar.
Introduction. Life and career of Franz Caspar (1916-1977)
Between 1942 and 1948, Caspar resided in Bolivia in the Mosetén indigenous community of Covendo (province of Sud Yungas, department of La Paz), where he conducted anthropological research and collected language data. Subsequently, during two periods of field research in 1948 and 1955, Caspar spent a substantial amount of time among the Tuparí, who then lived a semi-isolated life in the area of the Rio Branco river in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Along with his ethnographic work, Caspar collected vocabulary and phrases of the languages Arikapú, Aruá, Aume, Jabutí, Makurap, Massacá (data provided by dr. Ary Figueiro), Salamãe, Tuparí and Wayoró. All these languages are spoken to the north of the Guaporé river in the area of the Branco, Colorado, Corumbiara, Mequens and Pimenta Bueno rivers. In his recording of language data, Caspar used a rather precise notation based on the German phonetic practice of the epoch and provided them with translations and notes in German or Portuguese. Caspar’s data of the Tuparí language are more extensive than those of the other languages mentioned above. Apart from a set of numbered words and phrases (“Sätze”), they also include German-Tuparí and Tuparí-German dictionaries on system cards. In 1957, after his return to Europe, Caspar wrote a grammatical overview of the Tuparí language together with the renowned Brazilian linguist and expert in the Tupí languages prof. dr. Aryon Dall’Igna Rodrigues. This work was facilitated by the financial support of the Swiss National Foundation (Schweizerischer Nationalfonds).
Except for expressions and short texts included in Caspar’s published ethnographic work, of which the monograph Die Tupari, ein Indianerstamm in Westbrasilien” (1975, Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter) is the most important, his language data are still inedited. After Franz Caspar’s death in 1977, they remained in the possession of his widow Frauke Caspar (deceased 2018). Since 2005, with Mrs Caspar's permission and with the financial support of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) , a research team consisting of prof. dr. Willem F. H. Adelaar and dr. Hélène B. Brijnen of the Leiden University Center of Linguistics, has prepared these language data for online dissemination. The website contains the original material in pdf-format. Transcriptions of part of the material (data on Tuparí, Arikapú and Aume) have been included. Transcriptions of further material may be added in the future. Caspar’s data are accompanied by photographic illustrations.
Photo of Franz Caspar among the Tupari during his fieldwork in Rondônia
An obituary written by Peter Keckeis on the occasion of Franz Caspar's death in 1977
Data collected by Franz Caspar
Data collected by Tibor Sekelj (1912-1988)
Data collected by Emil Heinrich Snethlage (1897-1939)
