[Lingtyp] Unidirectionality of language naming

[Spike Gildea]

The Werikyana language (Cariban, Brazil) gives multiple examples of the first part of the proposed path (although also multiple examples of other paths towards community names) and in a practice imposed by outsiders, the name of one community/tribe was then given to the language. However, very recently it became a counterexample to the second part of the path.

Several Werikyana-speaking tribes are named for the rivers they live on plus the suffix -yana ‘people of’: Katxu-yana = -yana ‘people of’ the Katxuru (Cachorro) River; Kah-yana – people of the Kahu (Trombetas) River; Yatxkur-yana = people of the Yatxkuru River, etc. However, some tribal names are derived from animal names, like ewarho-yana ‘people of the Tapir’ and others are of unknown origin, like txik-yana, ingar-yana. These names are all quite old, predating contact with Western society. As far as we can tell, the original term used by the various communities for their language was simply amna mïtanï ‘our (exclusive) language’.

After contact (1940s-1950s), the language shared by these communities was named Katxuyana by outsiders, which made it an example of the second part of the proposed path. Since this was the name of the language as it was known by outsiders, when speaking Portuguese, members of the various communities began to refer to their own language with that name. However, in recent years members of the other tribes complained that this label effectively “erased” them from the speech community, so at a community meeting in 2017 they agreed to stop using the name Katxuyana for the language. Instead, they chose the name Werikyana, which honors an ancestral chief who is a unifying figure in the oral histories of all the tribes.

The part of this story that becomes the counter-example has come only in the last couple of years, with the advent of high speed internet in all the villages. While speakers continue to use the more restrictive tribal names when relevant, in social media postings (in their own language, not Portuguese), they have begun using the term Werikyana kumu ‘all the Werikyana’ to refer to themselves as the larger community of people who share the language. For example, in this post from November 6:

Moro kïkokmamïr kumu werikyana kumu. Oktxe rih ka manatxiwï?
‘The Werikyana kumu are (collectively) passing the night. Are you-all well?’

Best,
Spike

From: Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Françoise Rose <francoise.rose at univ-lyon2.fr>
Date: Tuesday, November 28, 2023 at 6:16 AM
To: Pun Ho Lui <luiph001 at gmail.com>, lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Subject: Re: [Lingtyp] Unidirectionality of language naming
Franks --> France is a counterexample for the first part of the path.

-----Message d'origine-----
De : Lingtyp <lingtyp-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> De la part de Pun Ho Lui
Envoyé : mardi 28 novembre 2023 14:40
À : lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
Objet : [Lingtyp] Unidirectionality of language naming

Dear All,

Recently I have been working on the etymology of language names with etymons such as ’no’, ‘what’, and commonly place names and community names.

It seems that language names (specifically endonyms, i.e. how the locals call their own language) follow a unidirectional change of derivation or semantic extension (e.g using the community name as language name without any formal word formation):

place name> community name> language name

I am wondering if there is any language name that violates the above unidirectional cline.

Thanks.

Warmest,
Pun Ho Lui Joe
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