Abstract
This paper analyzes the interaction between language and society in the Zamucoan languages (†Old Zamuco, Ayoreo and Chamacoco), spoken in south-eastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay. I show how grammatical gender was a source for poetic metaphors, systematically shaping Ayoreo mythology, and how change in Chamacoco cosmovision correlates with the development of gender switch in animal nouns. Also, some mismatches between linguistic and natural gender reflect the role of women in Ayoreo society. The relationship between the father and the first legitimate child is particularly important for the Ayoreo and is expressed through a teknonymic suffix. The attention to the preservation of the environment and the social practice to share consumable resources are reflected in the impossibility to directly possess animals and plants in Zamucoan. Competition did not play an important role in Zamucoan societies, which are traditionally egalitarian, and there are hints that Zamucoan had originally no dedicated comparative structures.
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Publication Name
The Integration of Language and Society: a cross-linguistic typology
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ISBN/ISSN
978-0-19-284592-4
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Pages Count
53
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Oxford University Press
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New York, NY, USA
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