i Ari ixanti

197 Pages·2005·0.45 MB·English

Ari ixanti:
Speech reporting practices among the Nanti of the Peruvian Amazon
by
Lev David Michael, B.A.
Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Master of Arts
The University of Texas at Austin
December 2001
i
Ari ixanti:
Speech reporting practices among the Nanti of the Peruvian Amazon
by
Lev David Michael, B.A.
Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School
of The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
Master of Arts
The University of Texas at Austin
December 2001
ii
Copyright
by
Lev David Michael
2001
iii
Ari ixanti:
Speech reporting practices among the Nanti of the Peruvian Amazon
APPROVED BY
SUPERVISING COMMITTEE:
__________________________
__________________________
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For Michael
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Acknowledgements
This thesis springs from the relationship that individuals in the Nanti
communities of Montetoni and Maranxejari tentatively began, extended,
strengthened, negotiated, and renegotiated with me and Chris Beier from 1995 to
2001. The work before you was made possible by the trust that the people in these
communities gave me the opportunity to earn, and the patience that they usually
evinced, even during systematic inquiry into minutiae like the details of migration
routes or syllable stress that became tedious even to me at times.
Most of the residents of these two communities have at one time or
another, and frequently more than once, taken time out of their day to talk with us,
answer questions we have posed, and visited us as part of their daily visiting
rounds. Some individuals, however, have contributed substantial portions of their
time to help us with our research, and I want to thank them personally: Ajorora,
Anteres, Barentin, Bisarota, Bixotoro, Esexira, Tsyabera, Tyejerina, Joja, and
Migero.
My debt to Chris Beier, my partner in working with the Nanti communities
and in life more generally, is incalculable. With respect to the present work, Chris
has been my interlocutor in innumerable conversations in which many of the ideas
presented in this study were first hatched. It is difficult to say, in many instances,
where my ideas begin and where those that which arose from our fruitful
interactions end. Without Chris’ support and able partnership both in the field and
at home, it is unlikely that I would have been able to achieve a small fraction of
what we have accomplished together.
Joel Sherzer directed my inchoate fascination with the nexus of language,
cognition, and social interaction. He has provided me with what I believe is a rare
mixture of direction, encouragement, and freedom to explore that I very much
value.
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If this work has any merit, it will owe much to Elizabeth Keating, whose
acute criticisms helped me refine vague ideas, to support my claims with solid
data, and to excise what I could not support.
Tony Woodbury has on many occasions brought my attention to new ways
to think about the phenomena I examine in this study, and has been a steady source
of encouragement during the long processes of bringing this work to term.
David and Judy Payne, who have also carried out linguistic research among
the Nanti, have been affable interlocutors in discussions about the Nanti language
and have been generous with data they have gathered. Their colleagues, Betty and
Wayne Snell have also been generous in sharing unpublished data on Matsigenka
gathered over the course of several decades.
Carolina Izquierdo shared with Chris Beier and myself several memorable
experiences in the Urubamba River valley. Her research on Matsigenka medicinal
practices also fruitfully challenged me to deepen my study of Nanti medicinal
practices.
Glenn Shepard has been an invaluable source of comparative ethnographic
and linguistic information about the Matsigenka of the Manu region, and has
usefully challenged me to rethink several of my ethnographic and linguistic
conclusions.
Nathaniel Gerhart was our companion on two visits to Montetoni; his
ornithological expertise has contributed to my understanding of Nanti hunting
practices and our collaborative research on Nanti knowledge of local avifauna has
proved fruitful for both ethnographic and linguistic purposes.
Not least of all, I wish to acknowledge and thank those who have at various
times, and for various reasons, provided financial support that made possible the
research upon which this thesis is based. Charlie Munn provided funding for
our1998 fieldwork, and arranged for Nathaniel Gerhart to join us. His financial
support came at a particularly critical time during our work with the Nanti of
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Montetoni and Maranxejari, and I thank him for it. The University of Texas
Liberal Arts Graduate Research Fellowship I received for research during the
summer of 2001 supported research on this and other topics related to the Nanti
language. Finally, I wish to thank the financial supporters of Cabeceras Aid
Project. While Cabeceras Aid Project has never directly supported my research
activities, it has made possible my work with Nanti communities of the upper
Xamisuja on matters of importance to the community. The joint work has been of
incredible importance in building a relationship of trust with the communities,
without which my ongoing research would be impossible.
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Ari ixanti:
Speech reporting practices among the Nanti of the Peruvian Amazon
by
Lev David Michael, M.A.
The University of Texas at Austin, 2001
SUPERVISOR: Joel Sherzer
This study examines speech reporting practices among the Nanti, a small
Arawakan indigenous group living in the southeastern Peruvian Amazon. The
goals of the study are to provide an empirical description of Nanti speech reporting
practices and a theoretical account for their patterning and organization.
A descriptive framework using the concept of speech reporting strategies
is developed and then used to describe Nanti speech reporting practices. The
organization of Nanti speech reporting practices is accounted for in terms of a
model that takes speaking practices to be emergent patterns of language use arising
from the interplay of language ideologies with the communicative needs of
individuals in concrete interactions.
Nanti speech reporting practices are found to be organized into two major
spheres, one concerned with the transmission of orally-obtained knowledge, and
the other with the representation of human agency and evaluative positions. The
former sphere is analyzed as arising from ideologies of knowledge that privelege
direct experience over inference and hearsay, while the latter is analyzed as arising
from ideologies that take discussions of talk and physical action to be the
appropriate means for communicting about agency and evaluative position.
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