This paper examines the contact history of the eastern Amazonian Awá-Guajá, and the sociolinguistic variation that evolved between their various communities and proximate indigenous groups. The Awá-Guajá came into lasting contact with Brazilian mainstream society in 1973 and were located in four communities by Brazil’s Indian Service. These Tupí-Guaraní speakers can talk with other members of this language family, to wit, the Ka’apor and Tenetehara. This interaction discloses linguistic kinship and a special historical alliance between these groups. The Awá-Guajá defer to the Ka’apor and Tenetehara but preserve a prudent distance from them, revealing an intriguing dynamic that refers to power relations, historical ecology, and the emerging impact of the Brazilian state.