The semiotic constitution of Kamsá ritual language

Abstract

Recent studies of socially situated ways of speaking have reflected a growing uneasiness with the tidy dichotomies (for example, formal/informal, polite/casual) that have informed sociolinguistic inquiries in the past. The ritual language of the Kamsa indigenous community of Andean Colombia presents a serious challenge to these familiar conceptual molds. In elaborating a semiotic constitution for this speech variety, I articulate a model founded on three interrelated variables -accessibility, formalization, and efficacy -that may prove relevant to the discussion of ritual and ceremonial languages elsewhere. (Ritual and ceremonial languages, South American Indian speech forms, semiotics.)

Religious Language

“…Even belief in the omnipresence of divinity does not assure that one can interact with it ( KH Basso 1990, Peacock & Tyson 1989. Spirits may be the real audience, even of performances not explicitly directed to them as addressees (Becker 1979, McDowell 1983, and even practitioners who agree on how to pray may disagree on who their prayers actually address (Frisbie 1980a).…”

“…One version of this approach builds on Durkheim's observation (1915;cf Briggs 1988, Kratz 1994) that ritual form can create a unified congregation by regimenting vocal and bodily movements and, by its emotional effects, may transform individuals' subjective states (Davis 1985, George 1996, Goodman 1972, Lawless 1988, Maltz 1985, Nelson 1985, Pitts 1993, Roseman 1991, Titon 1988. Another approach looks at how linguistic form can restrict access to the circulation of discourse (Briggs 1993, McDowell 1983, Urban 1996cf KH Basso 1990). To the extent that their use demands esoteric knowledge, religious speech genres or lexicons can become scarce resources (Bledsoe & Robey 1986, Carpenter 1992, Frisbie 1980a, Irvine 1989, Lindstrom 1990.…”

“…By these effects, highly formal speech comes to serve the perpetuation of authority. Bloch has drawn criticism, both for his account of language and for the conclusions he draws from it, even from some who concur with aspects of his thesis (Boyer 1990, McDowell 1983. Formality, redundancy, and repetition are not incompatible with semantic meaning (Briggs 1988, Janowitz 1989.…”

Folklore and Sociolinguistics

“…Performativity, the ability of the spoken word to make things happen, is present as a potential in all speech acts, but levels of speech efficacy are variable depending on the type of speech event, and, naturally, on its felicitous execution according to the speech community's standards. Another correlation is often present in the transition from casual to more formal settings-decreasing levels of intelligibility, as the discourse becomes increasingly opaque, especially in ritual settings (Tambiah 1968;Murray 1977;Feld 1982;McDowell 1983;Brown 1984;Yankah 1991).…”

“…Speech-making in ceremonial settings, as I have witnessed in ceremonial speech forms of the Andes ( McDowell 1983( McDowell , 1990, is likely to display a number of salient features: stylized acoustic contours, often endowed with palpable speech rhythms and intonational patterns; grammatical formations shaped by parallelism into recurrent structures; and special vocabularies and figurative language that resonate with deeply rooted beliefs and values (Kermode 1979;Foley 1991). Ceremonial speech forms evince an efficacy that goes beyond the immediate setting, enabling speakers to gain influence by triggering emotional response and validating the community itself as an idealized construction (George 1993).…”