Speech of exchange and social rules among the yucuna Indians of the colombian Amazon ; Paroles d'échange et règles sociales chez les Indiens yucuna d'Amazonie colombienne

This study explores the diversity of forms of exchange among the yucuna Indians of the Colombian amazon, by considering both the language and the specific traits of the institutions that determine them. By redefining the notion of "speech" in order to employ it as a concept for analyzing social facts, the author lays out the first foundations of a theoretical model serving to study any form of exchange, indifferently of the semiotic material used by the speaking subjects, be it that these express themselves by toungue, by their conduct, by their tasks or even by the objects that they give each other (meals, drinks, cigarettes, gifts, etc. ). Exchanges are thus defined as speech acts (J.L. Austin ; J.R. Searle), in interaction determined by their particular contexts. The ethnologist's work is to separately examine different contexts in order to sort out their particular social rules. They allow both the interpretation of what is implicit in these acts and the explanation of the temporal order within the interactions. Once the rules have been formulated, it becomes possible to compare them to others, in order to identify the specificities of traditional indigenous institutions (kinship, maloca, shamanism) distinguishing them from western institutions (economical, political, juridical, etc.). In order to analyze the rules of exchange, several ethnographic methods have been used to elaborate an appropriate corpus. On one hand, real situations are described in traditional contexts (domestic life, visits, collective works, ceremonial balls) as well as in modern contexts (payment of indigenous workers, merchandise sales). On the other hand, stories (myths, legends about White, reports of recent events) and conversations (everyday and ceremonial) are transcribed in yucuna language. All this material is divided into sequences allowing for precise referencing throughout the comments. ; Cette étude explore la diversité des formes d'échange chez les Indiens yucuna d'Amazonie colombienne, en prenant en compte le langage et ...