Language Contact and Documentation: Contacto Linguistico y Documentacion

Tetsualü: The pluralism of languages and people in the Upper Xingu 147
was formed and little by little the population grew. Many of those who had
stayed at Oti began to join the Kuhikugu people.
This narrative also tells of the internal conflicts between the chiefs of one
village. Afterwards Oti divided and became Uagihütü. Only those who remained
there, those who remained at Oti, became Uagihütü. In the brief conversation
that follows the Kopogipügü narrative, we hear about the origin of the dialectal
differences: “We made our language stand up straight, the folk from Lahatuá
made our own words walk upright, while the speech of the Uagihütü ‘fell.’”
What happened to the Uagihütü, the ancestors of those we today call Matipu?
Tikugi, a Matipu elder, narrates 15 that after leaving Oti, the Matipu ancestors
went to found another village. At first they stayed at Hotu. Later then went
to found Akugi embipe, where the fertility of the lands for swidden cultivation
subsequently became exhausted. They left for another place, therefore, and
founded first Uagihütü village and then Tatehengo. While they were living in
Uagihütü village, they received news of the arrival of the Villas Bôas brothers.
It was there that a terrible measles epidemic assailed them, brought by the
Roncador Xingu expedition.
Another testimony was given by Jamatua, chief of the Matipu village of
Ngahünga. 16 He was born in the old Kalapalo village, Kunugijahütü, from
where he later moved with his family to the village of Kahindzu, and from there
to Uahütü village. He says: “afterwards we joined up with the remaining Nahukwa
because there we so few of us left. Orlando therefore took us to the
Leonardo Post from where we could choose our new place.” With the help of
the Kamayurá, they chose Magijape.
The Kuikuro judge themselves to have a straight (titage) speech in contrast
to the speech of the Kalapalo/Nahukwá (the other) which is perceived to be
‘curved, moving in jumps and waves’ (tühenkgegihongo) or ‘back-to-front’ or
‘inside-out’ (inhukilü).
During a linguistic documentation workshop held in Ngahünga village between
October and November 2009, the teacher Kaman Nafukwa 17 wrote this
small bilingual text to help understand the play of perspectives involved:
15 Tikugi’s narrative was recorded on video by Takumã and Münai, Kuikuro filmmakers, at
the end of October 2009 as part of the Matipu and Nahukwá Documentation Project, coordinated
by Franchetto and supported by CFDD-MJ and the Museu do Índio-RJ.
16 Jamatua’s narrative was recorded on video by Takumã and Münai, Kuikuro filmmakers, at
the end of October 2009 as part of the Matipu and Nahukwá Documentation Project, coordinated
by Franchetto and supported by CFDD-MJ and the Museu do Índio-RJ.
17 Kaman is the son of a Kalapalo father and Matipu mother. He took the surname Nafukwa
having lived in Magijape, a village defined as Nahukwa. In 2009, Kaman obtained a teaching