draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
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9.3 Jesuit Language Use in Old Omagua Ecclesiastical Texts<br />
In this section we examine aspects <strong>of</strong> Omagua language use in the Old Omagua ecclesiastical texts<br />
that reflect the goals and linguistic abilities <strong>of</strong> the Jesuit missionaries involved in their development.<br />
In §9.3.1 we discuss the Jesuit creation and use <strong>of</strong> Omagua neologisms, which reflects linguistic<br />
creativity on the missionaries’ part in light <strong>of</strong> perceived lacunae in the Omagua lexicon in key<br />
areas <strong>of</strong> Catholic religious thought and practice. In §9.3.2 we turn to evidence <strong>of</strong> calquing in the<br />
ecclesiastical texts, which reveals the areas in which the missionaries’ linguistic knowledge remained<br />
partial.<br />
9.3.1 Neologisms in Old Omagua Ecclesiastical Texts<br />
In developing ecclesiastical texts in the indigenous languages <strong>of</strong> Maynas, Jesuit authors frequently<br />
confronted the fact that those languages lacked lexical items that denoted important concepts in<br />
Christian doctrine. Pablo Maroni ([1738]1988:168) (excerpted in Downes (2008:70)) makes the<br />
following observation with that in mind:<br />
Añádase que estas lenguas, al mismo paso que abundan de vocablos para explicar la<br />
variedad de manjares y bebidas, plantas, frutas, animales, y aun de la misma sabandija,<br />
asimismo son muy escasas y faltas de palabras para explicar lo que toca a la enseñanza<br />
cristiana, al pecado, a Dios, al alma y sus espirituales operaciones y otras cosas semejantes.<br />
Todas estas naciones ni un vocablo tienen para decir que creen lo que se les<br />
dice... 365<br />
The Jesuit authors <strong>of</strong> the Old Omagua ecclesiastical texts responded to this difficulty by developing<br />
neologisms to express notions relevant to Catholic religious practice. 366 These attested<br />
Jesuit neologisms are given in (9.1)-(9.7), where the close translation is a literal translation and<br />
the target translation indicates the concept that the Jesuits were attempting to convey with the<br />
neologism. In the last line <strong>of</strong> each example we indicate with an abbreviation the names <strong>of</strong> the texts<br />
in which each neologism occurs, 367 The examples ordered by frequency in the texts, with the most<br />
frequent neologisms first.<br />
(9.1) 1watimai Ritama<br />
1wati =mai Ritama<br />
be.high.up =inact.nomz village<br />
close: ‘high village’<br />
target: ‘Heaven’<br />
(lord, frag, full, pr<strong>of</strong>)<br />
365 Translation (ours):<br />
Furthermore, these languages, at the same time that they abound in words to explain the variety <strong>of</strong><br />
delicacies and drinks, plants, fruits, animals and even minute insects, words to explain that which<br />
deals with Christian teaching, sin, God, the soul and its spiritual doings, and other similar things are<br />
extremely scarce and lacking. Not even one word do these nations have to say that they believe what<br />
they are being told...<br />
366 Less frequently, they borrowed words from Quechua, e.g., utSa ‘sin’, which is attested in modern Omagua as uSa<br />
‘sin, fault’; utSa ‘fault’ is attested in some Quechuan varieties (Rosat Pontalti 2009).<br />
367 lord = Lord’s Prayer; frag = Catechism Fragment; full = Full Catechism; pr<strong>of</strong> = Pr<strong>of</strong>ession <strong>of</strong> Faith.<br />
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