Language in an ontological register: Embodied speech in the Northwest Amazon of Colombia and Brazil Janet Chernela University of Maryland, College Park, Md., 20742, USA article info Article history: Available online xxx abstract Speakers of Eastern Tukanoan languages in Brazil and Colombia construe linguistic dif- ferences as indices of group identity, intrinsic to a complex ontology in which language is a consubstantial, metaphysical productda ’substance’ in the development of the person. Through speech, speakers of the same language signal a corporality based in theories of shared ancestry and mutual belonging while speakers of different languages signal dif- ference. For Tukanoans, then, one creates one’s self in the act of speaking. These onto- logical beliefs underlie speech practices, influencing language maintenance and contributing to one of the most extreme examples of multilingualism reported in the literature. Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The proposition, held by most Tukanoans, 1 that languages are discrete objects representing relations among people, is an ontological project. It cannot be divested from its cosmological and sociosemiotic foundations. Speakers of these languages, who reside along the Colombian/Brazilian border, construe linguistic difference as an index of group identity, intrinsic to a complex ontology in which language is a consubstantial, metaphysical productda ’substance’ in the development of the person. Through speech, speakers of the same language signal a corporality based in shared ancestry and mutual belonging, while speakers of different languages signal difference. As such, inter-linguistic variation is iconically and indexically related to social differentiation (Chernela, 2013). For Tukanoans, then, one creates one’s self in the act of speaking. These ontological beliefs underlie speech practices, influencing language maintenance and contributing to one of the most extreme examples of multilingualism reported in the literature. The combined forces of language practice and surrounding beliefs create and maintain the polyglossia that is at the center of a vital Tukanoan economy of social reproduction, sustained over time through ideological and practical mechanisms. The same overarching ontological framework that equates language with corporality precludes marriage between speakers of the same language (a practice that scholars call linguistic exogamy). 2 It thereby disambiguates the relationship E-mail address: chernela@umd.edu. 1 I use the term ‘Tukanoan’ here as a shorthand to stand for the phrase ‘Eastern Tukanoan language family’ or any of its speakers. The generalities presented here do not apply to speakers of the Western Tukanoan languages spoken in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. The choice is also intended to differentiate the designation ‘Tukanoan’ from ‘Tukano,’ reserved for one of the Eastern Tukanoan languages. 2 Several Eastern Tukanoan groups do not practice linguistic exogamy: the Makuna (Århem, 1981, 1989), the Kubeo (Goldman, 1963), and the Arapaso (Chernela, 1989; Chernela and Leed, 2003). Each of these groups does, however, conserve a form of descent-group exogamy (Chernela, 1989, Chernela and Leed, 2003; Chacon and Cayón, 2013; Århem, 1981; Cayón, 2013; Chacon, 2013; Goldman,1963, 2004). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Language & Communication journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/langcom https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2018.02.006 0271-5309/Ó 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Language & Communication xxx (2018) 1–10 Please cite this article in press as: Chernela, J., Language in an ontological register: Embodied speech in the Northwest Amazon of Colombia and Brazil, Language & Communication (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2018.02.006