The Yanomami people are a very detached group from any other group. They share little to nothing at all with any outside group of people.This includes their language. It is very distinct and is unlike any other language. In fact, each Yanomami tribe has their own subgroups of the language too. The Yanoma, Sanuma, Ninam, and the Yanam are all subgroups of Yanomami.
Each of these four subgroups belongs to four different tribes of Yanomami people. Each of these subgroups has many different dialects and variations in its own language. The subgroups are not easily understood by the various tribes but since they originate from the same base language it is possible to communicate between one another.However, their language is not understood or similar to any other indigenous group. Its origin of the language is unknown to this day.
In Yanomami, they can have single words that mean an entire phrase, unlike english. In addition to this, they use many different ways to portray a past tense and a future tense. However, they only have words for five colors and only number up to two. In addition to this, the word "Yanomamo" in their language can mean "man" or "children of the moon".
Reference:
Professor Wesch at Kansas State University
2010 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Electronic Document
http://ksuanth.wikifoundry.com/page/Yanomano+Family, accessed July 26, 2014
In the Yanomami language, I understand that all four subgroups of the language are considered Yanomami. However, they are different enough that I believe that they should be considered different languages all together. In my opinion, their relationship to one another is similar to that of Portuguese and Spanish. They came from the same origin and can be some what understood by one another but have vast differences.
ReplyDeleteAwareness and respect of cultural differences are important, you are right, Josh. Good post, and your reflection is kind of brief, but on cue. What I suggest is that you include course content here. You talk about language differences. Why not mention something about power and language. Something I said in class about languages and dialects are pretty much the same thing but what is called a language depends more on power issues, than on the structure of the language. Also, you may want to mention briefly that languages shape somehow our perception of reality. Language and culture cannot be separated, and the importance of languages to maintain or revitalize a culture. The film, We Still Live Here about the Wampanoag could be cited. I mean, it's up to you what you mention but make it course relevant. YOu can add it here sometime during the week, and very important too, please include this during your presentation. Make it course relevant. Thanks. Good Job, and I appreciate your working on this in spite of the circumstances, traveling and all. Email me if you have questions.Thanks
ReplyDeletelanguage is an essential part to keeping a culture alive. Take the Wampanoag people for instance. They lost their language and eventually their culture. Since they had a written language however, they were able to revive the Wanpanoag language and with it, their culture. If the Yanomami poeple were to lose their language, it is doubtful that they would be able to revive their language as the Wanpanoag have. This is because they do not have any form of written language.
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