Abstract

ROBAYO, Camilo Alberto. LINGUISTIC IDEOLOGIES AND SHAMANISM AMONG THE YUKUNA-MATAPÍ INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. Forma funcion, Santaf, de Bogot, D.C. [online]. 2012, vol.25, n.2, pp.139-160. ISSN 0120-338X.

The article studies the conception of language of the speakers of the Kamejeya language: the Yukuna-Matapí peoples of the Colombian Amazon, on the basis of ethnographic and linguistic information. It starts out by presenting the approach to language of indigenous co-researcher Uldarico Matapí, and then goes on to discuss the concept of linguistic ideology from the perspective of M. Rosaldo (1982) and A. Duranti (1993), in order to carry out a reflection on the assumptions underlying any conception of language, including that of anthropologists-linguists. After examining the particularities of certain representations of forms of communication in the Amazon region, the paper takes up Ph. Descola's (1996) idea of animism in order to understand the importance of the shamanistic perception of the world of Kamejeya speakers. The paper defends the view that the sense of sight provides metaphors for knowledge and for the shaman's power, which would thus be framed within the structure of language.

Keywords : ethnolinguistics; Amazonian languages; Yukuna; linguistic ideologies; shamanism.

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