
425
\
!
424
Lucy
Seki
marriage and economic exehange. The main material traits ¡nelude haystack-shaped
houses arranged in a eircIe around a central plaza; dependenee upon
fish
rather than
game for protein and the lack
of
fermented drinks.
AIl
the peoples in the Upper
Xingu have benches in the form
of
animals fashioned from a single piece
of
wood,
whistling arrows, bark canoes and the bull-roarer. They use the spear-thrower
in
intertribal games and ceremonies. Men cut hair
in
a circular tine aboye the ears, while
women wear it cropped on the front in a straight
lineo
Xinguan women wear
ulurí,
a
triangular bark pubic cover. Typical Xinguan necklaces are made
of
rectangular
or
disc-shaped pieces
of
periwinkle shells (Galvao 1953, Murphy and Quain
1955).
There are strong similarities
in
social organization and systems.
AH
the
Xingu groups have extended families which are predominantly patrilineal; a wife
will
normally move
to
her hllsband's village, after an initial period
in
her own
village. 'Common' people
(camara}
are differentiated from a small elite which con-
sists
of
tribal Jeaders.
The peoples
of
the Upper
share cultural practices. Shamanism
i8
much the
same among all groups. Sun and Moon feature as the main creative forces in their
mythology. They share the main festivities, for instance,
kwaryp
(a term
of
Kamaiurá
origin), the feast
01'
the dead; a martial game called
huka-hllka;
and the dance ritual
of
jawari.
The Xinguan peoples also have dances involving wooden
or
straw masks,
and ceremonial fiutes which women are not allowed to
see
(Galvao 1953).
Alongside cultural uniformity, each group has its own speciality. An important
part
of
the traditional life
in
the Upper Xingu
i5
intertribal meetings (knowll as
moitará)
for the pllrp05e
of
exchanging products supplied by individual groups. The
Kamaiurá produce black bows, the Trumai make traditional stone axes, Carib
groups are responsible for necklaces made
of
periwinkle shells, while the Waurá
make ceramic pots. Trumai and Mehinaku provide salt (which was traditionally
extracted from aquatic plants). Aweti and Mehinaku traditionally played the role
of
middlemen.
3
LlNGUISTlC
SITUATION
In spite
of
the cultural similarity, each grollp maintains its - its language
is
its maill distinctive feature. The idea
of
a language as a
of
identity
is
sup-
ported
by
the restríctions on language use during ceremonies: one
is
not allowed to
use a language/dialect
other
than one's own in the sitllatioll
of
intertribal commll-
nication and ceremonies. Interaction takes place via a system
of
non-verbal com-
munication shared by all the participants (Emmerich
1984).6
6
Basso (1973:
5)
described the Upper Xingu as a 'communication network' rather than a
'speech cornmunity',
Le.
'a
syslem consisling
of
several kinds
of
linkages between indívid-
J
5
Xingu linguistic area
Monolingualism
i8
not rare among the peoples
of
the Upper Xingu. Many
people, however, know,
or
at
least understand, more Ihan one language due
to
ínter-
tribal marriages.
7
Since, before a couple moves
to
the husband's village, they tend
to stay
in
the wife's village [or a while (Galvao 1953),
both
have an opportunity
of
learning each olher's language,
and
!he children learn their mother's
and
their
father's language. However, exogamy
is
not required (unlike in Ihe Vaupés:
see
chapter 14). Generally speaking, the linguistic situation in the Upper Xingu can be
characterized as that
of
'passive bilingllalism' (Emmerich 1984, Basso 1973).
Yawalapiti and Trurnai are the only two multilingual groups.
By
the end
of
the nineteenth century, the Yawalapiti were already a smalJ group.
did not have a village
of
their own but lived among Ihe Kuikúro, Waurá,
Mehinaku, Aweti and Kamaiurá.
In
1950,the members
of
the expeditíon Roncador
Xingu convinced Ihem to build their own village (Cowell
1973:
227),
and
their
numbers increased. This
was
also due to intertribal and reslllted in the
integration
of
numerOllS
speakers
of
Kamaiurá and Kuikúro into the Yawalapiti
community (Viveiros de Castro 1977: 69; Mujica 1992). As a result, the Iinguistic sit-
uation
in
the Yawalapiti village
i3
more complicated
than
elsewherein the Xingu. The
Yawalapiti language continues to be lhe mark
of
the tribal identity; however, every
'awalapiti knows another langllage. Mujica (l992} reports that mos! children have
at least one non-Yawalapiti-speaking parent, and they prefer to speak a language
other than Yawalapiti.
As
the result
of
Ihis, Yawalapiti
is
endangered - of the
130
inhabitants
of
the Yawalapiti village, only
13
are fillent in the language (1992:
SimiJarly, the Trumai
8
have been
in
decline since the end
of
the nineteenth century
(see Murphy
and
Quain
1955:
9tT.).
In 1938, many were bilin2ual in Kamaiurá.
Nowadays,
alJ
the Trumai speakers are
and
they tend to know more
uals
and
groups,
in
whích verbal
and
non-verbal codes are present bul not necessaríly
shared by .lhe total sel
of
participants. The
use
01'
these varíous eodes results
in
intersecl-
ing lines
of
communícalion by which any messagc can
be
ultimately transmitted to, and
understood
by,
any local group
or
individual' (1973:
5).
According lo Basso, Ihere are
two
types
of
communicntion. Interpersonal communication involves ¡he use
of
)anguage, while
a non-personal (ceremonial) communicatíol1
is
linked to non-verbal deviccs.
1
The frequency
or
intertribal marriages differs rrom group lo group. The Kuikúro lend lo
marry other Carib-speakinggroups,
or
Yawalapilí,
or
Mehinaku, or, rarely Waurá
or
Awetí
(Franchetto 1986), while Kama.iurá tend no!
10
rnurry Kuikúro,
!
The Trumai. Ihe mosl recent arrivals to Ihe Uppcr Xingu, also
huye
cerlain differences from
other peoples
01'
the area: they
do
not take part
in
the
kwol'yp
ceremony and
do
not have
lhe same food prohibitions as
other
groups. According to Trurnaí Iraditions they carne lo
Ihe Xingu from the far southeast, where their ancestOfS did nol know manioc,
and
did not
use bows
or
nammocks. They were said lo have had long hair,
Iike
Suyá
(Je),
lo
nunt
and
lO
tie up Iheir penises. The lalter praclice
is
said lo have been abandoned after
in
the Xingu area. Note that when von den Steinen firsl visiled Ihem, Trumai women did
not wear the pubic cover
U/I//'í
(Ihey do so now). This sllggests that Trumai musí have
arrivedin the Xingu area not long before von den Steinen visited them.