Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reported Speech and Discursive Authority among the Nantis of the Peruvian Amazon

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

Under the direction of Dr. Joel Sherzer, Mr. Lev Michael will conduct fieldwork for his doctoral dissertation. His linguistic and ethnographic research among the Nantis, an indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon, will focus on how individuals create personal authority in conversation and how these uses of language relate to the recent emergence of community leaders in newly-formed Nanti settlements. Mr. Michael will examine how Nantis quote each other and how the circulation and reproduction of certain peoples' utterances leads to the greater influence of these individuals. He will also compare language use, and quotation in particular, in the more traditional single-family settlements and in the new settlements. This research will include recordings of live interactions between Nanti individuals in diverse social settings, which Mr. Michael will transcribe and analyze. He will also track how speech from important social events is repeated and spreads through the community by supplying Nanti individuals with [individual portable recording units that will enable them conduct their daily business. This last doesn't make sense to me. Weren't they able to conduct their daily business long before you arrived with recorders?] This project will have several impacts. First, its examination of the relationship between social organization and language use will provide a testing ground for theoretical frameworks bridging linguistics and anthropology. Second, it will provide information on how utterances circulate within a community of speakers, an area of interest to linguists and anthropologists. Third, this project will contribute to the documentation of this undescribed language. This documentation will directly benefit the Nanti people by generating materials for bilingual education in their communities. Finally, this research will [contribute to improving communication between Nantis and others by clarifying the central role of quotation in Nanti communication, which is a source of frequent miscommunication between Nantis and the representatives of the industrialized world with which they now must contend. This seems somewhat grand. What specific aspect of your research will have this impact?]