Links between language and society among the Murui of north-west Amazonia

Wojtylak, Katarzyna I.

Abstract

The indigenous peoples of the Caquetá-Putumayo River Basins from north-west Amazonia inhabit vast territories of impenetrable rainforest delimited by large bodies of water, the Caquetá (known also as Japurá) and the Putumayo (Içá) Rivers. Besides sharing similar living conditions, these small-scale societies have related principles of social and cultural interaction in common, based on homogenous kinship structures (distinguishing parallel cousins and cross-cousins etc.), collective taboos (regarding food consumption and preparation, tabooing one's name and death, etc.), and ceremonial organization and rituals (based mainly on ingesting pulverized coca and liquid tobacco)The languages spoken by these north-western Amazonian groups, although unrelated (belonging to the Witotoan, Boran and North Arawak language families, plus one language isolate-Andoke), share certain grammatical features, including classifiers and evidentiality markers. Arguably, these are examples of integration (points)-that is, linguistic parameters such as physical environment (based on the fotrestal and riverine landscapes) and social relations within the community (established through particular societal hierarchies and kinship systems)

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The Integration of Language and Society: a cross-linguistic typology

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978-0-19-284592-4

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Oxford University Press

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New York, NY, USA

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