For example, it will become apparent that the verbal art genre such as tjlõ kwo rong ‘profound words’, which is ideologically understood most centrally as an obscure and sacred ancestral code, can be used in a playful and humorous manner (Bermúdez 2018, 3).
As Reinaldo Gonzalez describes in the Mythology volume of the Naso Cultural Encyclopedia, Naso cosmology includes eight different hierarchically related layers of spiritual planes, each inhabited by different life forms including plants, animals, and different types of spirits, where these planes mirror the complexity of the local physical ecosystems or habitats (Naso Cultural Encyclopedia, Mythology volume, pg. 255).
The logical principle is that specific animals and related species are endogenous to a specific physical place. The cultural importance of this view is reflected in the large amount of 'profound words' that refer to specific place names, such as mountainous dwellings dlupso kjropso 'THE DWELLING OF GIANTS', or creeks pjrodi semdi 'THE RIVER HABITAT OF QUETZAL SPECIES'.
The human plane is referred to with the profound word which extends across many variations including kjokyo diyo or kjok e di e or kjokga long diga long 'HOMELAND'. One spiritual plane of non-human but human-like spirits is called pjang urwa yo urwa 'IN BETWEEN CLOUDS AND EARTHQUAKES' (Bermúdez 2018, 24).
The overwhelming majority of Nasos acknowledge that their clan system and membership is of central societal importance, and they can name around fifteen different Naso clans, each with different labor specialties, physical characteristics, and linguistic practices. Although today the traditional Naso clan system has disintegrated and reduced to extended families, the nostalgia and identity of clan membership remains strong, even if the majority of Nasos are not aware of which clan they belong to. Nasos describe human clans democratically as different species, where differences are widely accepted and not imagined as existing hierarchically—each clan is known for particular traits, and these characterizations are acknowledged and not a reason for bias or discrimination. Some clan names are formally characteristic of profound words, found fixed in songs, such as naliong keliongso ‘PEOPLE FROM NALIONG AND KELIONG’ and kjoliong diliongso ‘PEOPLE FROM KJOLIONG AND DILIONG’. The ideology of distributed varietal knowledge in Naso clans is presumed to be a main reason for accepting variation between the linguistic variables and speech patterns of different social groups, because people refer to the ideology as explicatory of linguistic variation.
The characteristics that Nasos describe in Naso clans include speech practices, and these are very insightful because they lay out the way that Nasos stereotype the way that they use language; these coincidentally align with particular speech play and verbal art strategies and the way they get used. As seen above, they also align with ‘profound words’ that characterize people. There are several stereotypes of how Naso clans characteristically use language, some of these include: clans which are reserved (Shonuso), clans which gossip (Kjorbaso), and clans which are verbally skilled and good at holding conversation (Magroso).
In joking conversations, Nasos often comment that whenever a person has an individual personality that fits into one of these categories, they are referred to as belonging to the clan associated with each—which overrides one’s familial clan. For example, if one’s family group is known to be associated with a particular clan, as is often the case, and an individual exhibits language practices of another clan, then they are said to belong to the other clan. Outsiders that adhere to a Naso-like linguistic practice are likewise jokingly labelled as belonging to that particular clan (Bermúdez 2018, 24-25).
In addition to variation of life forms at the level of cosmological planes or of human characteristics, Nasos also regularly notice the variety of plant, animal, and mineral life forms and how they are manipulated and noticed by humans. Many of these species are referred to in profound words, such as apsi yapsi ‘INSECTS’, kjwesi shgwlõ si ‘RATS’, kjlö wa sriwa ‘the beauty of cricket songs’, and sklä gwo kugwo ‘bird species that can be hunted’. The term dbuglo lö glo ‘endearment term for men’ literally refers to palm tree species (Bermúdez 2018, 26).
Nasos often mention and joke about how their ancestors were very different from present-day Nasos in that they were more diverse and knowledgeable about the world and species around them. One related point of explanation is that in Naso myths (known as historia or cuentos in Chapter 4), Naso ancestors are imagined as humans that interacted more intimately with non-human life forms such as spirits and animals, which resulted in different cognitive beliefs, behaviors, and linguistic abilities. In contemporary Naso thought, this made Naso ancestors both more powerful but also more intellectually diverse from the Nasos today.
Nasos associate variation in language with variation in thought. They frequently use the phrase nasoga woyotlĩ k oblë oblë ‘Nasos think differently (among themselves)’, in order to mean that each person has their own thoughts, and there is little unification among individuals (Bermúdez 2018, 27).
One common way in which Nasos view their language is as a tool or commodity that brings power. This commodification of language can be traced back to their historical stories of inter-ethnic wars with other Chibchan tribes including Bribri and Cabécar groups from the 1800s. Nasos discuss how in guerrilla warfare they would capture Cabécar or Bribri children as slaves with the intention of learning their language as a tool to learn the secrets and cosmological powers of non-Naso sukias. The practice of taking children as slaves to learn their languages and verbal art is widespread in the region, and also reported for Bribri in Cervantes (2001). The consequences are evident in the lexicon of songs across languages. For example, Adolfo Constenla Umaña (1996) documented that Bribri has a song called the Sorbong ‘Mole (animal) dance’ which consists of Naso lexicon, and the Bribri practice it without knowing what it means. Although the Naso no longer sing or dance the Sorbong song, they are aware of the cultural significance of the sorbong.
Songs and verbal art such as myths or profound words are powerful and dangerous, so much that they were motive for keeping non-Nasos within the home as informants. The danger and power of verbal art has also been noticed in several lines of research (Keane 1997, Kroskrity 1992), as well as the secrecy with which certain codes of speech have been guarded (Debenport 2015).
In Naso popular view, each language is powerful, and while some may have more prestige than others (Spanish, English), it is beneficial to know different languages, even Ngäbere and Bribri, because they bring the advantage of more knowledge (Bermúdez 2018, 28-29).
Unlike the complex ritual genres that have been documented for Kuna (Sherzer 1983, 1990) and Bribri (Cervantes 2001), which both have traditions of shamans or medicine men also known as sukias who use ritual language, Naso does not maintain this tradition. However, Nasos widely acknowledge that they used to have ybi ‘sukias’ who practiced a ritual style called tjlõ kwo shkë so ‘nighttime speech’. According to elders’ recollections, this would occur in a special house, where the sukia would converse with spirits at night. Some elders say they would use a special lexicon and profound words, and others say they would chant melodically, but they do not recall the melody. In any case, commonfolk were not able to understand this language, because spiritually, it took place on a different cosmological plane, strictly between the ybi and spirits.
According to Naso history, the last practicing Naso ybi was murdered by the Bribri over one hundred years ago (Bermúdez 2018, 31-32).
3.3.2 Vowels
I analyze fourteen vowels for Naso, where nasalization is phonemic... (29) [a̯a.jaŋ] /ajaŋ / ‘evil tree spirit’... [u̯u.ʃi] /uʃi/ ‘evil female spirit’ (Bermúdez 2018, 50-51)
This phoneme appears in initial, medial, and final position, as shown in (42). (42) a. /ã ŋ/ [ã̯ã ŋ] ‘IDEOːsound of flying head spirit’ (Bermúdez 2018, 55)
/daŋ.'ka/ ‘evil spirit’... /'ʊ.ka/ ‘snake spirit’.../'ɑ.jaŋ/ ‘monkey spirit’ (Bermúdez 2018, 58)
Below in (130-132) are some examples of how the numeral classifiers are used in clauses.
(130) kjok ro sĩ ro-shko, shkë so-pga, së ya e ara, kjring obl̈ë obl̈ë e
time in dark in-LOC night.spirit-PL spirit DEM many CLFːtype different DEM
‘at night there are many nightspirits and siprits, of all different kinds’ (Bermúdez 2018, 82)
(157) kwa-rg-a ba sogo kong mal̈ing-e era kjrik l̈i tjl̈ẽ ba kong ga
give-FIN-3A 3 owner DAT fast-STAT so Thunder TOP tell 3 DAT CONN
‘he gave it back to its owner at once, and the Thunder told him…’
(Naso Cultural Encyclopedia, Mythology volume, pg. 46) (Bermúdez 2018, 88)
3.4.2.3.1 Hearsay /le/
Naso only distinguishes one evidential, a hearsay particle /le/ ‘it is said; they say’ that is most likely derived from the verb /le/ ‘to say’...
(177) së ya owa e kje ga shji dö -ya irö ng obi l̈e eni
spirit bad PRO take.apart CONN 1PL.INCL loose back again say so
‘they exorcise the bad spirits out of us and bring us back, they say’
(Naso Cultural Encyclopedia, Mythology volume, pg. 40) (Bermúdez 2018, 92-93)
Another frame tag that works differently is one that includes the evidential particle le, a hearsay particle that also has the meaning ‘to say’, inflected for third person. An example follows in (258).
(258) Shuntri e diwa së ya to shä ng sl̈ontkë wl̈o l̈e eni
Shuntri PRO creek spirit go POSIT:stand court for say so
‘Shuntri was a creek spirit that would go around courting [people], they say’
(Naso Cultural Encyclopedia, Songs volume, pg. 50) (Bermúdez 2018, 112)
(la historia de Shuntri está completa en Nasoga laiwak)
This is represented in the orthography. In this way, speakers interpret a minimal pair which is distinguished solely by vowel lengthening, below in (267).
(267) ä ng ‘IDEOː sound of pulling bundles of leaves, sound of leaves on trees’ ää ng ‘IDEOː sound of rain, sound of spirits when they walk’... uu uu ‘IDEOːsound of uushi spirit’...
In the regular lexicon it is rare to find a word without an onset, save for a few examples including the following below in (269) in phonological notation, where they are phonetically long initial vowels. Notice that about half are names of mythical creatures.
(269) /ʊsla/ ‘evil half-man spirit’
/ʊka/ ‘evil snake spirit’
/ajaŋ/ ‘evil monkey spirit’
/uʃi/ ‘evil female spirit’ (Bermúdez 2018, 123)
4.3.1 Lanyo, historia or conversa ‘past histories’
“Tlabga dena…
…eng le eni”
“our ancestors…
…yes, that’s what they say”
Narratives that are roughly fixed in content and structure are referred to with the Naso lanyo or the Spanish historia ‘history’ or conversa ‘conversation’. They describe spiritual-like, mythical ways of life or events that are understood to have actually taken place in the past to Naso ancestors. Some of the most common lanyo include spiritual or cosmological myths of Naso life and important characters. For example, they include lanyo about the grandmother goddess Tjër Di, the Serpent deity Ööka, famous Naso warriors such as Lökës or Tutu Dlo, or lamentable characters such as Shunsri who committed suicide. Nasos generally believe that these lanyo are real, though this strongly depends on level of education, where people less indoctrinated into Spanish education believe more in these histories, and people with more exposure to public education sometimes stop believing in them. These lanyo are closely related to cultural practices, traditions, and conventional wisdom often found in proverbs.
Lanyo have several recurrent structural patterns including parallelism of events, and importance of the number 4 for objects and people, and the numbers 7 to 8 for time (often thousands of years, or spiritual planes). This pattern is common across Chibchan myths, where four days and eight times are recurrent numbers. Across the Americas there are different patterns of repeating stanzas, in pairs, threes, fours, or fives (Hymes 1977).
In Naso lanyo, non-human beings such as giants, animals, and spirits often have a voice and speak fixed phrases; even if the story is told in Spanish, the fixed phrases are quotatively preserved in Naso.
Another structural feature of Naso lanyo is their framing by the introductory words tjlabga dena ‘our ancestors…’ and the conclusory le eni ‘…so they say’, or something to a similar effect, similar to the English “once upon a time..”. The evidential hearsay particle le ‘say’ is always present throughout, which can be analyzed as a strategy that distances the speaker from first-hand knowledge of the event and pushes it back into an abstract place and time—into ancestral history. This evidential particle is not used in telling cuentos ‘stories’, discussed below.
Nasos often talk about how they no longer tell narrative lanyo like they used to. The traditional way of telling these was in the evening. (Bermúdez 2018, 143-144)
4.3.2 Chiste ‘humorous telling’ or cuento ‘anecdote, (trickster) tale’
Nasos use the Spanish chiste or cuentos in order to refer to fables, second-hand humorous stories, or anecdotes based on personal experiences. There is a difference between historical myths or ancestral ways of life described in the previous section and chistes cuentos ‘stories’. Historical myths are subject to more complex structure that occurs with narrative forms, whereas cuentos are typically shorter in length and have a more free form resembling anecdotal tellings. However, both go back to a time where animals could talk and there was little distinction between animals, humans, and spirits. Cuentos include stories that resemble the “trickster tales” or fables that are common across the Americas (Hyde 1997). The similarity between abstract trickster tales and anecdotal stories is that both involve a plot that makes fun of one of the participants in the event. The generalization is that cuentos involve a humorous and good-natured outlook on an unfortunate event. Naso cuentos are told for entertainment between Nasos or also to outsiders. In them, Nasos index their indigenous identity and personality traits, especially wit and a self-teasing attitude.
Below is a classic chiste of the agouti, which is hilarious to Nasos.
Shkwl̈ë e shä ryara Sbö rë kë sbang llë m owa kjing l̈e, tjl̈ĩ na Sbö rë ö ng kjl̈oshkoso obl̈ë obl̈ë tjok llë bo rokara Sbö rë ö ng kjl̈oshkoso tjeng uun l̈i kong, llë ye rokë r bomi kong l̈i ë ye om sö no uun ga e ië r ber kë sbang obl̈ë kjinmo ë ye omsö no llë me shkwl̈ë ra llë ye rokara Sbö rë l̈i sö ra uunkong Sbö kong, Sbö tjl̈ẽ no shkwl̈ë kong ga “pja ië r ber sö k kë sbang obl̈ë kjinmo ga bop pjë yoga zrö p drete pja owa pja jyõ go ga llë ye rokorot kë s l̈i sö rop uune, eni kjĩ y ga pja ië r ber sö k chirawa ö ng kjl̈oshkoso obl̈ë obl̈ë tjeng l̈i dorkoe”, eni kjing ga eeri ga shkwl̈ë chirawa wl̈e e kjing.
‘God didn’t make the agouti very big because it is bad. God went to all the animals in the forest and told them all that if they brought back everything that God asked them too, he would make them appear bigger in size than the rest of the animals. While no animal brought back what God asked, the agouti brought back everything. God told the agouti “if I make you bigger than the rest of the animals, you will kill all of your family, you are bad, you are a liar, I asked you for too much and you brought back everything, because of this I will make you smaller than the rest of the animals of the forest”. Because of this, today the agouti is small in size.
The joke above plays on the Naso classic sensibility to be conservative in their interactions with the land and with resources. It is common knowledge and practice to talk about how it is necessary to sustain the resources in the environment, otherwise their resources will come to an end. The joke plays on the tone-deafness of the agouti, who is not sensible to the social standards in place. It is humorous because typically it is the case that the agouti is the one tricking other life forms by convincing them to do things that lead the agouti into a position to take advantage of them. But in this story, it is the agouti who is tricked by God, so the script is reversed. While the agouti literally follows God’s orders, the agouti himself is tricked because God plays the voice of social justice, where there are reprocussions for not obeying the societal practice of conserving their resources. (en el libro Kugwe ngabere hay una historia muy parecida con el título El quinco y Dios)
4.3.3 Refranes or dichos ‘proverbs’
Proverb:
“Kwokwirgwo tjwe sö k të u bokshto kjok sĩ obi ga ë bo kjer dö rö e mite wl̈eniyo eni ga së ng l̈ë ko ga e no tjl̈abl̈ae.
Cuando el gavilancillo llega en una casa a cantar por la mañana es porque alguien joven se va a morir y si llega por la tarde es alguien mayor.”
When the hawk comes to visit a house singing in the morning, someone young will die, and if it comes in the evening, someone old will die.
Explanation:
“Së nwa kjone ga e bi shjgawaga dë na bi kjokë ga kong ga kwokjwirgwo kjwe ba kong l̈ok ga e tjl̈ungkaga, e no shinmokono l̈aga ey ga l̈u pjl̈obi llë bakoe, llë bo ë re u̯un jũ miyde ega woyo tjl̈ĩ ya bi kjokë garë drete ë rego ga miyde tjl̈apgarë sö k drete.
Algunas aves sirven de alerta para nuestros abuelos, el gavilancillo es de mal agüero, comunica que alguien ha muerto, hasta indica qué edad tiene la persona, todas estas señales son analizadas con exactitud por los ancestros esa es la manera de darse cuenta de los sucesos.”
Some birds serve as warnings to our elders, the hawk foretells a bad omen, it communicates that someone has died, it even indicates the age of the person, all of these signs are analyzed with exactness by our ancestors and that is how we are notified of the news.
-Miriam Aguilar, Verbal Art Volume, Naso Cultural Encyclopedia
Nasos have short proverb-like messages that they refer to with the Spanish refranes ‘proverbs’ or dichos ‘sayings’, such as the one above. They describe these in the Naso Cultural Encyclopedia, in the following words, in Naso and Spanish, followed by my English translation:
“Borwa kong ga llë bo kjl̈oyso e pjl̈ue ega kjone ga së nwa ega ö ng kjwepga kjwe borwa tjl̈apagaga kong ga e ba llë bo rotaga, llë pogo owa ega pjl̈u, epga ommiyde l̈ö ng bä mgo eni kjĩ shko ga kjwe borwa yorkaga miydë rwa ego ga tjawa poshä rye. Kjone ga e borwa wapga poshdungkl̈o l̈on mal̈ing llë m wl̈o ega bi kong omgo bakoe. Eerishko ga llë bo owa trä k llë me llë bo shä rye eni wl̈o llë m ga l̈ë rwa tjawa pina lok tek jong sorë ga jek jong eni bakoe.”
“Para nosotros los animales del monte son buenos algunos son aves y otros son animales, para los ancestros ellos son alarmas, ya sean buenas o malas, son los que se dan cuenta más antes que nosotros los humanos y así nos preparamos es por eso que se le considera nuestros amigos. Algunos de estas frases sirven para aconsejar a nuestros hijos para que no caigan en un error, también sirve para nosotros mismos. Actualmente la maldad ha aumentado y para que no ocurra algo desastroso se lo decimos así como nuestros padres nos lo enseñaron eso es lo que seguimos inculcando siempre.”
For us, undomesticated animals are good, some of these are birds, and others are other animals, for our ancestors they are warnings, either good or bad, they are the ones who know news before us humans and that’s how we prepare ourselves and because of that they are considered our friends. Some of these phrases are used to counsel our children so that they don’t succumb to mistakes, and they are useful for ourselves. Currently evil is on the rise and so that something disastrous doesn’t occur, we use these phrases like our parents taught us and we continue to cultivate the messages.
The description of the genre in the above quotation indicates that the proverbial messages come from undomesticated animals, which know cosmological information indirectly available to humans. Several of the proverbs documented by Nasos, roughly 25%, support this description, and refer to the intentional calls or behaviors of specific animals such as monkeys, bird species, dogs, lizards, frogs species, chickens, toads, ants, and chameleons, from which Nasos draw wisdom. However, domesticated animals such as dogs and chickens, as well as inanimate objects such as rocks and shells, and other natural signs such as the sun, water, and smoke, also provide meaningful symbolism for about 25% of the proverbs. Besides that, roughly 50% of the remaining proverbs are generalizations of characteristics of human nature, societal norms, conventional wisdom, or cultural beliefs and rituals surrounding traditional practices such as hunting or puberty.
The content of these proverbs are often related to knowledge Nasos commonly refer to as seta ‘customs’, which includes culture-specific customs and beliefs. However, everyday conversation and discussion of seta is often longer and not immediately premonitional or proverbial as the function of the short forms that are documented in the Encyclopedia.
Joel Sherzer suggests (2002) that proverbs have a bipartite form. This generalization holds of the Naso proverbs in the form of what I call the SETUP and the INFERENCE, where the SETUP is the situation, context, or setting which provides the background under which an interpretive INFERENCE may be made. However, a proverb may vary in the relationship between the SETUP and the INFERENCE. One common strategy is for the INFERENCE to be a clear, directly explained result of the SETUP, such that in the event of a SETUP, the INFERENCE is an entailment. This provides a transparent interpretation or symbolism suggested by the SETUP. These sorts of proverbs are highly premonitional, and dependent on interpretation of signs in the environment. Examples of this kind are in Table 9 below. (Bermúdez 2018, 144-148)
Likewise, the humor created in the transcription session with Daniel and other technicians, Daniel juxtaposes different social relations, in specific, the different power relations and social characteristics between Nasos and Latinos, as well as the different epistemologies between humans, animals (chicken), and spirits (uushi). (Bermúdez 2018, 199)
6.3.1.5 Gilberto Gamarra
“Carolina wlo tjlẽ eni tjlẽ ga ĩ ge ebga e tjlõ kwogo ĩ ge
tjlõ kwo kwo pjö k kwo mya e woyde lok llë me le
sino que le kwaraso
geniyo ga tjawa tjlẽ ba kong ga kwë p llong
borwa tjlõ kwo e kop eni
tjawa tjlõ kwo lë p kwaraso ga lë rwa pjö k
pjö k pjö k pjö k pjö k eni ĩ zong tegong kë gong kë gongshko
eni lë rwa bakong
ebga om të eni llë me
ebga llë wlo ga pjlollgwë ga
ber pjlaraso llë m ga le eni ga ae
yara kjokde ga beno borwa kong eni ë ng
yara beno sore ga lë y ë ngkong oblë shi wlo ga ae
tjlabga tjlẽ ga
tjlabga tjlẽ ga aaya
a̯aya e tjlẽ ga kowe lok
dö rbong le
krina e tjlõ kwo jong e obi ga ko ĩ ge
dirbong
e aaya shkë so
e aaya e jek shkë
kowe dö rbong dirbong”
for Carolina, she said like this, she said for them, words,
they didn’t like words to be in pairs or trios
they just wanted one word
but we told her, what’s the point?
Our language has that many words
In our language, what you say once, we say twice
two two two two like that you see, it goes way back
that’s what we told her
but they don’t write like that
for them, when you translate it,
if it doesn’t come out to just one then you can’t say it
but it was given to God to us like that
yes
so that’s the way it was given to us and we say it, we can’t say if differently
our ancestors said
our ancestors said that evil spirits
they would call evil spirits
dö rbong they say
another word that is the same is called
dirbong
it’s an evil nighttime spirit
a spirit that walks in the night
we call it dö rbong dirbong (Bermúdez 2018, 209-210)
For example, below in (337a), the ergative marker -rë attaches to the end of the entire profound word form [dlup-so kjrop-so], as shown in (337a) and not to each [dlup-so] and [kjrop-so] individually, as in (337b).
(337)a. lanyoke ga tjlapga wa-ɾ-a [dlup-so kjrop-so]-rë le eni
converse CONN man eaten-PFV-3A mountain-ORGN ridge-ORGN-ERG say so
‘they say a MOUNTAIN SPIRIT ate the man’ (Bermúdez 2018, 227-228)
6.4.5 Semantico-cultural network of diphrastic profound words
Profound words that use the strategy of diphrastic parallelism describe the social, cultural, linguistic, and ecological characteristics and diversity in local life – where life forms include human, flora, fauna, and landscape. They name and represent the conditions and patterns of diversity in life to which Nasos attend. For example, they name the different Naso clans, non-Naso races, animal species and their characteristics, plant species, evil spirits, mythical place names and characters, human characteristics, cultural rituals and the delimitations of time and space. The recurrent semantic themes show that Naso cosmology is built from the local ecology of living forms and their material and immaterial dwellings. I interpret profound words as overlapping in particular cultural domains of traditional practices and knowledge.
In the semantic network diagrammed below, I map the general cultural domains that are signified with the profound words. Each line represents whenever a lexical constituent of a profound word is used in more than one cultural domain. The line represents the link between how that word gets used in multiple cultural domains, and interprets those domains as being related by virtue of sharing lexical content. In each cultural domain box below I include in parentheses some illustrative examples. The network analysis is partly inspired by Fox’s semantic analysis of Austronesian double words (1971, 2014).
For example, I interpret the word kjokyo diyo ‘homeland, birthplace’, as a profound word that culturally categorizes into Naso dwelling place names in the diagram below. In that profound word is the root di ‘water’, a root which also occurs in other profound words; some of these profound words include kjolong diliong ‘clans from Kjolong and Dilong’, which I categorize as belonging to Naso clans, as well as pjlu di së ng di ‘creeks where pjlu and së ng bird species live’, the latter which I categorize as Ecosystem kingdom. The cultural domains that are bolded are a product of my own interpretation based on analysis of ‘profound words’ within the cultural and traditional knowledge I have gathered from everyday life, myths, and Nasos’ own interpretations. However, I recognize that they are taxonomic and most likely distorted by my own way of understanding the semantic relationships between Naso concepts. However, I think they are still useful because they show how Naso-particular concepts, such as clans, cardinal directions, and different life forms are intricately linked within a cultural sphere (Bermúdez 2018,234-235).
At the right edge I place the non-human life forms and forces that are agentive (Cardinal directions and time, Human-like spirits, Natural events). The more complex domains are placed in the center of the network, these include other spiritual planes, such as ecosystems and the beings that inhabit them; here it is important to recall that cosmologically, Naso spirituality includes eight different planes of existence in a hierarchy of spirits in various directions of complexity that imitate the complex chains of ecosystems and the particular species that rule them (kings) in local nooks of the natural environment (Bermúdez 2018, 237).
a female evil spirit called Dlu (Bermúdez 2018, 239)
how did ancestors used to cure themselves; what is sukia; kjus; shkeso; talk with human spirits (Bermúdez 2018, 241)
In many examples such as this one, the B constituent has no meaning but is said to mean the same as the A constituent, as in the further examples below in (368-369)...
(369) sɪkwa skɑnkwa
fireflies ?
‘FIREFLIES THAT CARRY SPIRITS OF DECEASED’ (Bermúdez 2018, 272)
6.6.4.1 (Regular) profound words
Likewise, in profound words where the B constituent is semantically decomposable, it has a similar meaning to that of the A constituent as discussed in the section of literary tropes (e.g. synonymy, metonymy), as is shown in the data below...
(370) kjwesi shgwlosi
mouse rat
‘RODENT SPIRITS’ (Bermúdez 2018, 273)
To give another example of vagueness from different speakers, Reinaldo González and Hormelio Santana from the Mythology team interpret related meanings between phonologically overlapping forms that follow in (372), which they call profound words. In conversation, they have pointed out to me these are noticeably similar phonologically, and that this must be evidence that they are historically related in meaning. Below, the four meanings including songwoybo are related based on one myth they all appear in, the myth of the Serpent spirit Öö ka.
(372) Excerpt from the Mythology Volume of the Naso Cultural Encyclopedia
Songwoybo: Laguna de la serpiente Öö ka, en la cabecera del río Dikës. Esta palabra etimológicamente se origina de tres palabras:
Lagoon of the serpent Öö ka, located in the headwaters of the Teribe River. This word etymologically originates from three wordsː
Songwo: Frijol negro originario de Dwas.
Black bean that originates in Dwas.
Shwl̈onggwo: Semillas de uyama que le fue dado a la suegra de Öö ka después que su hija fuese convertida en serpiente. Estos dos niños eran un regalo que le dio Öö ka, en reemplazo de su hija, que la abuela debía cuidar con mucha precaución ya que los niños le gustaban el agua, mas al descuidarse estos volvieron otra vez a su padre el rey de las serpientes quien los convierte nuevamente en su apariencia original.
Pumpkin seeds that were were given to Öö ka’s mother-in-law after her daughter was converted to a serpent. The two children were a gift that Öö ka gave her, as a replacement for her daughter, that the grandmother was to take care of with much caution since the children liked water, but after being careless they returned to their father, the king of the serpents, who converts them back to their original appearance.
Zonggwo: Barbas de la serpiente Öö ka, con la cual engaña a los Naso, convirtiéndolo en una guacamaya roja para atraerlos y luego caer en la trampa para comérselo.
Beards of the serpent Öö ka, with which he tricks Nasos by converting [the beards] into a scarlet macaw in order to attract them so they fall into the trap so he can eat them.
Reinaldo explains that the name of the Serpent spirit’s home lagoon, Songwoybo, is historically derived from three words with mythologically related semantics: songwo, ‘special bean’, shwlonggwo ‘pumpkin seeds’, and zonggwo ‘serpent beard’. These three meanings are related in a semantic network through the particular Serpent spirit myth, which is the most long, complex, and salient myth that indexes Naso cosmology. In terms of linguistic etymology, it is apparent that the term Songwoybo can be explained as a compound of songwo ‘black bean’ and ybo ‘lagoon’, but the interpreted relation with the other two terms shwlonggwo and zonggwo are what give depth to the complex network of profound word meaning.
Besides their semantic interrelation, they also clearly overlap phonologically and morphologically in several ways: all four terms begin with sibilants, share multiple nuclear mid back vowels /o/ to the exclusion of other vowels, contain a medial velar nasal /ŋ/, and contain the derivational ROUND classifier formative /gwo/. This accident appears incidental to the technicians, which highlight this as something of especial salience and meaning (Bermúdez 2018, 273-275). (una versión de esta sale en Nasoga laiwak)
Nasos use kapwa pjlerwa to refer to special eating utensils used by sukias and spirits, and they use basde chisde to refer to non-Naso foreigners (Bermúdez 2018, 283).
7.2.3 Chibchan influence (Bribri, Cabecar, Kuna)
According to Naso history and also Bribri and Cabecar myths, there was a tumultuous time of inter-tribal warfare from the 1800s to the early 1900s, where groups would fight over resources and land. They captured each other’s children as slaves and to extract knowledge of language, rituals, myths, songs, and cultural information. Cervantes (2003) and Constenla (1996, 2006) report Naso lexicon in Bribri songs (Sorbong, Dulé). Some Bribri and Cabécar lexicon I have found in Naso songs include the following in (385-386).
(385) kayö pintu > Bribri kayö ‘improvisor of songs’
‘spirit of the Vulture who taught songs to Nasos’
(386) diyo yro berber diyo yro lley > Cabécar berber ‘rose-colored’
‘different-colored waters’
Perhaps the most striking lexical similarity in Naso profound words and Kuna ritual speech which I have found to date is the Kuna term ikarkana, which refers to ritual or archaic texts (Sherzer 1983). The form ikar means ‘way’ or ‘path’, in this context in a metaphorical way where ‘path’ refers to a ritual transformation or curing rite. In Kuna, -kana, which Joel Sherzer explains is the plural marker, appears to be a formative descended from Proto-Chibchan *kada ‘stick’ (Isthmic ‘CL:long’), where Kuna underwent the sound change *d>n (Constenla 1981). In Kuna it appears to be lexicalized on some nouns, where the formative seems to contribute a meaning of ‘human’, most likely following to overlap in the LONG classifier to the HUMAN classifier in some Chibchan languages (Bermúdez 2016). One example of this formative in another term is ibelelekana ‘cultural heroes’ (Penland n.d.). The form ikarkana is similar to the profound word form in Naso /iɾku kʰloɾku/, which is explained by Hector Torres as being ‘physical path on which a person is going and confronts a spirit or person’. The overlap in form and meaning in the Kuna and Naso forms does not seem to be attributable to accident. It is noted that Nasos have lost traditions of medicine men and ritual speech, but this profound word seems to hold more knowledge than what Hector can recall. Below in (387-388), the Kuna and Naso forms are illustrated side by side (Bermúdez 2018, 284-285).
Bermúdez, Natalia. 2018. "A Description of Naso Verbal Art." Tesis doctoral, The University of Texas at Austin.
CELEBRACIONES PARA LOS DIFUNTOS
En tiempos de los antepasados estaba también la Abuela Tjër, y Tjër les enseñaba a los Sukias de los Teribes. De vez en cuando, los Sukias y Tjër se ponían de acuerdo para invitar a los espíritus de los muertos, de los que se habían muerto hace tres o cuatro años.
Los invitaban a una casa grande de nombre "Zuor", que era bien cerrada, incluso alrededor estaba cerrado también, de manera que nadie podía entrar.
Antes de iniciar las celebraciones, el Sukia se encontraba solo dentro de la casa. Cuando ya era de noche, los que estaban afuera escuchaban sus cantos. A eso de las diez de la noche, el Sukia les decía:
Ya viene el muerto y les va a saludar, pero ustedes no le contesten, manténganse en silencio, aunque sea su hijo. Entonces, mientras todos guardaban silencio, el primer desaparecido llegó, llegó por medio de una brisa, un viento, saludando como una persona:
― Hola mamá, hola papá, ¿cómo están?
El mismo hijo desaparecido hace unas preguntas:
― Donde siempre jugaba habia una piedra, ¿todavía está?
― Donde íbamos a cosechar plátano, ¿todavía permanece lo mismo?
― Donde íbamos a conseguir vegetales, ¿el lugar permanece igual?
― Donde me bañé y jugué, ¿el sitio está el mismo?
La gente, en silencio, escucha al desaparecido preguntando, sentado, y de repente se pone a llorar. Después, llegaban otros con bulla y entraban saludando, pero la gente no les contestaba, todos permanecían en silencio. Los muertos decían:
― ¿Cómo están, papá y mamá? He estado perdido, desaparecido desde hace mucho tiempo, pero no digan que he desaparecido, estoy vivo, estoy vivo, sólo me han llevado a otro lugar. Lo que han visto era mi carne, era el cuerpo que había quedado como muerto, pero mi corazón, mi voz, mi espíritu han salido sanamente, por eso allí estoy bien. Por eso, no se desesperen, yo estoy bien.
Qué ganas tenían todos de ver a los difuntos, pero no se podía ver entre la oscuridad, solamente los que estaban cerca si veían algo. Cuando prendían un cigarro, con el resplandor de la chispa se veía bastante claro. Los ojos de los muertos brillaban como el brillo de un foco, y con la chispa al prender los cigarros lograron verlos.
Por dicha, los espíritus de los muertos no pueden vernos. Si pudieran vernos, nos llevarían, pero como no nos ven, no lo pueden hacer. Seguían llegando más y más, diciendo:
― Yo vengo de la Isla Pájaro,
― Vengo de la cabecera del río,
― Vengo del Cerro de Tjër.
Los que viven siempre en el Cerro de Tjër son los Kjusga, los subalternos de Tjër. Ellos también llegan a la casa, para conversar y cantar en la celebración de los difuntos.
Finalmente, comenzaban los cantos y bailes. El primero que cantaba era un joven que se habia ahogado en el río Błöłaŋ. El río se lo llevó por haber pescado demasiado la bocachica.
― Mi lugar es Kjwalaŋ, de allá vengo, decía, y empezó a cantar él Canto del Río Kjwalaŋ:
Jeeeŋ jeeeŋ, jea jëëë, koëë jeeeŋ jeeeŋ, koëë koëë
Jeeeŋ jeeeŋ, vine del río Kjwalaŋ jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
En ese momento yo lloraba jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
Me sentí afligido jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
Mis hermanos mayores fueron culpables jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
En ese momento yo lloraba jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
El rey de las bocachicas me asesinó jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
Pareciera agua jeeeŋ jeeeŋ, pareciera piedra jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
Jea jë koëë jeeeŋ jeeeŋ, koëë koëë jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
Mis hermanos mayores fueron culpables jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
En ese momento yo lloraba jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
Me sentí afligido jeeeŋ jeeeŋ
Jëa jë koëë jeeeŋ jeeeŋ.
De esta manera, nuestros antepasados, reunidos con los Sukias y los Kjusga, celebraban los aniversarios de los muertos de los últimos tres o cuatro años. Los espíritus de los muertos llegaban y bailaban con las personas, las que se mantenían siempre calladas.
~Esta celebración existía desde la creación del pueblo Naso, pero ahora la hemos perdido, como también a nuestros Sukias, los Kjusga, la Tjër. Sólo ha quedado esta historia.~
Julio Torres / Donildo Piterson
Nota:
Otra versión del canto del río Kjwalaŋ:
EL JOVEN PESCADOR
Jea jëköjë, jen, jen, köee, köee, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Vengo del río Kwalaŋ (río), jeŋ, jeŋ.
En este momento yo lloraba, jeŋ, jeŋ.
En este momento me sentí afligido, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Jea jëköjë, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Köee, köee, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Mis hermanos mayores fueron culpables, jeŋ, jeŋ.
En este momento yo lloraba, jeŋ, jeŋ.
El rey de las bocachicas me asesinó, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Jea jëköjë, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Pareciera agua, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Casas de viviendas en cantidades, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Jea jëköjë, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Agua de diferentes colores, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Agua de color chocolate, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Chocolate, chocolate, negro, negro, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Jea jëköjë, jeŋ, jeŋ, köee, köee, jeŋ, jeŋ.
El rey de las bocachicas y peces, jeŋ, jeŋ.
En este momento yo lloraba, jeŋ, jeŋ.
Narrado por Julio Torres.
Fuente:
IEATSAY. (2001). Narraciones teribes: nasoga łaĩwãk, pp. 79-82, 130-131. San José, Costa Rica: Fundación Coordinadora de Pastoral Aborigen.
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