Language Contact and Documentation: Contacto Linguistico y Documentacion

150 Mutua Mehinaku & Bruna Franchetto
A few words have shifted between Carib and Tupi: the word for capuchin
monkey in Carib, kajü, comes from the Tupi-Guarani (Kamayurá) ka’i, orka'jyt
in Aweti. Below is a list of fish names:
Tab. 3: Comparison of words in the Upper Xingu languages.
Carib (KK, Arawak Tupi Trumai English Scientific name
KP, NH, MT) (MK,WJ) (KM/AW)
Tuguhi tulupi uruwi tuzuí Spotted Pseudoplatystoma
sorubim coruscans
Tagahi talapi Tarawí ywã'já
akuakuegü jakuakuama wakwakumari Serrasalmus
nattereri
Akua jakua piranha Pygocentrus
(Serrasalmus)
nattereri
Ugake ulaki Wyrape electric Electrophorus
eel electricus
(Gymnotidae)
Uguta muluta Parearet muluta sailfin Pterygoplichthys
(AW) catfish multiradiatus
(Loricariidae)
Additionally the banded leporinus fish is called ahügü in Carib and jawyrÿ in
Kamayurá. The kuluta flute in Kuikuro is also known as kuluta in Arawak, kuruta
in Kamayurá and karytu in Aweti. Pequi fruit compote is tuma in Carib and
tukumaya in Trumai.
In terms of rituals, the exchange ritual is called uluki in Kuikuro, huluki in
Arawak and mojtara in Kamayurá. The name of the women’s festival derived
from the Arawak term jamugikumalu, yamurikuma, jamurikumã.
It is also interesting to analyze other kinds of data where the cultural differences
between the Upper Xingu peoples are reflected. In the Carib languages
of the Upper Xingu, we use the root ahehi to translate ‘to write and film’: ahehi
has the meaning of ‘to trace lines, scratch.’ As far as I know, the Kamayurá use
a very similar idea: ikara’j pyret (‘what was scribbled’). In Upper Xingu Arawak,
meanwhile, the concept of graphism and painting, yanati, is used to express
the concept of writing. 21
21 The ‘identification’ between writing and graphism (the designs that transform beings) is
fairly widespread among indigenous Amazonian peoples.