The Nambiquara Linguistic Family.

Abstract

1. The Nambiquara languages are spoken by American Indians living in the northwestern part of the state of Mato Grosso and adjacent parts of the territory of RondOnia, Brazil. The area traditionally inhabited by these Indians was on the order of 50, 000 km2, and within this region they were divided into some 25 regional clusters of villages, usually coinciding with the drainage basins of particular streams. Social relations between villages of the same cluster were generally more intense than between villages of different clusters, owing to their geographical proximity. But the village cluster did not constitute a clearly defined ethnic unit, as described by Barth (1969). Although individuals of particular ability might come to exercize a limited hegemony over a group of neighboring villages, no leader was recognized as having authority over all the villages in the cluster. While most marriages were contracted between villages of the same cluster, there was no rule that this ought to be so. And whereas more distant neighbors found it convenient to have a name for the cluster, members of the cluster had no name for themselves.