How grammar and culture interact in Zamucoan

Ciucci, Luca (2021) How grammar and culture interact in Zamucoan. In: Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y., Dixon, R.M.W., and Jarkey, Nerida, (eds.) The Integration of Language and Society: a cross-linguistic typology. Explorations in Linguistic Typology . Oxford University Press, New York, NY, USA, pp. 235-287.

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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.

Item ID: 70831
Item Type: Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN: 978-0-19-284592-4
Keywords: Ayoreo, Chamacoco, classifiers, comparatives, cosmovision, grammatical gender, possession, gender relations, hunter-gatherers, Zamucoan
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Copyright Information: © The chapters their several authors 2021. © Luca Ciucci 2021.
Date Deposited: 07 Dec 2021 04:18
FoR Codes: 47 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 4704 Linguistics > 470407 Language documentation and description @ 30%
47 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 4704 Linguistics > 470409 Linguistic structures (incl. phonology, morphology and syntax) @ 40%
47 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 4704 Linguistics > 470499 Linguistics not elsewhere classified @ 30%
SEO Codes: 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280116 Expanding knowledge in language, communication and culture @ 100%
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