Abstract

RAMOS, Alcida Rita. Sanumá names between cries and whispers. Etnográfica [online]. 2008, vol.12, n.1, pp.59-69. ISSN 0873-6561.

Like the other Yanomami Indians, the Sanumá (the northermost subgroup of this Amazon language family) preserve their personal names in secrecy. But, unlike most Yanomami, they suspend this secrecy when it is necessary to “do things with names”, to paraphrase J. L. Austin. Personal names, transformed into social tools, are capable of marking the public sphere with devices coming from the private realm. In this way, a few male names lose their secrecy so as to herald the emergence of new patrilineal groups with which the Sanumá organize their marriage and political life. With the arrival of outsiders, foreign names made their entrance in the Sanumá social lexicon, thus relieving the pressure over name secrecy. First came protestant missionaries with the Davids and Sarahs, then gold miners and other jungle adventurers with their regional and idisioncratic nicknames - Ceará, Paraíba, Passarão, etc. - greatly contributing to keep Sanumá personal names away from the public ear. It would thus seem that whispering would no longer be necessary, and crying out people’s names could be done at ease. Things, however, are not as they seem. To what extent Sanumá naming etiquette has reacted to these changes is what I intend to scrutinize.

Keywords : Yanomani; Sanumá; names; social organization; interethnic contact.

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