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The elaboration of ethnobiological nomenclature

Discourse, contact, and change in an Amazonian language

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Abstract
Studies of ethnobiological nomenclature systems have noted cross-linguistic correlations between their taxonomic structure and speakers’ subsistence patterns, with agriculturalists favoring more differentiated systems and a greater reliance on binomials than hunting/gathering-oriented peoples. However, we know little about how such nomenclature systems change and adapt, or how language contact and particular discursive practices might be implicated in these processes. This paper considers these questions through a northwest Amazonian lens, where peoples with different subsistence foci have interacted for many generations. A comparative approach indicates that ethnobiological terminology in the Hup language has been radically elaborated via calquing from its neighbor Tukano, even while Hup speakers have maintained their cultural emphasis on hunting and gathering. I argue that the dynamics of this elaboration are rooted in locally salient discourse practices, and that the genre of incantation has likely played a key role in the development and transmission of ethnobiological nomenclature across languages.
Article outline
  • 1.Ethnobiological nomenclature as a dynamic system
  • 2.The Naduhup family and the Rio Negro region
  • 3.Hup ethnobiological nomenclature in context: Naduhup sisters and Tukanoan neighbors
    • 3.1Methods in documenting Naduhup ethnobiological nomenclature
    • 3.2Life-form and generic terms
    • 3.3Specific terms
  • 4.Dynamics of diffusion: The role of verbal art
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • Author queries
  • References
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