Embedding in Shawi narrations: A quantitative analysis of embedding in a post-colonial Amazonian indigenous society

Rojas-Berscia, L. M., Lehecka, T., Claassen, S. A., Peute, A. A. K., Escobedo, M. P., Escobedo, S. P., Tangoa, A. H., & Pizango, E. Y. (2022). Embedding in Shawi narrations: A quantitative analysis of embedding in a post-colonial Amazonian indigenous society. Language in Society, 51(3), 427-451. doi:10.1017/S0047404521000634.
In this article, we provide the first quantitative account of the frequent use of embedding in Shawi, a Kawapanan language spoken in Peruvian Northwestern Amazonia. We collected a corpus of ninety-two Frog Stories (Mayer 1969) from three different field sites in 2015 and 2016. Using the glossed corpus as our data, we conducted a generalised mixed model analysis, where we predicted the use of embedding with several macrosocial variables, such as gender, age, and education level. We show that bilingualism (Amazonian Spanish-Shawi) and education, mostly restricted by complex gender differences in Shawi communities, play a significant role in the establishment of linguistic preferences in narration. Moreover, we argue that the use of embedding reflects the impact of the mestizo1 society from the nineteenth century until today in Santa Maria de Cahuapanas, reshaping not only Shawi demographics but also linguistic practices
Publication type
Journal article
Publication date
2022

Share this page