Embedding in Shawi narrations

A quantitative analysis of embedding in a post-colonial Amazonian indigenous society

Bibliographic Data

ID2860261
AuthorsLuis Miguel Rojas-Berscia (0000-0002-0492-9429, Radboud University Nijmegen, corresponding author), Tomas Lehecka (0000-0003-3222-0000, University of Basel), Simon A Claassen (0000-0001-9686-6017, Radboud University Nijmegen), A A K Peute (Radboud University Nijmegen), Moisés Pinedo Escobedo (Catholic University of Santa María), Segundo Pinedo Escobedo (Catholic University of Santa María), Abimael Huiñapi Tangoa, Elio Yumi Pizango
Year2022
Volume51
Issue3
Pages427-451
Publication date2022-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404521000634
OpenAlexW3204379290
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited21

In this article, we provide the first quantitative account of the frequent use of embedding in Shawi, a Kawapanan language spoken in Peruvian Northwestern Amazonia. We collected a corpus of ninety-two Frog Stories (Mayer 1969) from three different field sites in 2015 and 2016. Using the glossed corpus as our data, we conducted a generalised mixed model analysis, where we predicted the use of embedding with several macrosocial variables, such as gender, age, and education level. We show that bilingualism (Amazonian Spanish-Shawi) and education, mostly restricted by complex gender differences in Shawi communities, play a significant role in the establishment of linguistic preferences in narration. Moreover, we argue that the use of embedding reflects the impact of the mestizo1 society from the nineteenth century until today in Santa Maria de Cahuapanas, reshaping not only Shawi demographics but also linguistic practices. (Post-colonial societies, Amazonian linguistics, Kawapanan, Shawi, embedding, language variation and change, contact linguistics

Amazon rainforest · Amazonian · Archaeology · Astrophysics · Biology · Colonialism · Embedding · Indigenous · Linguistics · Narrative · Physics · Sociology · Variation (astronomy) · Anthropology · Computer Science · Ecology · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy

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