Event-Based Time in Three Indigenous Amazonian and Xinguan Cultures and Languages

Abstract

This article reports a field study of event-based time concepts, their linguistic expression and their use in time reckoning practices in three indigenous cultures and languages of Brazil: Huni Kuĩ (Pano, North-West Amazonia), Awetý and Kamaiurá (Tupi Guaraní; Xingu National Park). The results are based on ethnographic observation, interview, conversation and structured language elicitation tasks. The three languages all have rich inventories of lexical and phrasal expressions for event-based time intervals, based on environmental and celestial indices and social norms. Event-based time intervals in the domains of life stages, times of day and night, and seasons are documented. None of the cultures employ metric (calendar and clock) time units, but hybrid calendars representing blends of the 12 months yearly cycle and the indigenous seasonal indices are produced as art works. The number system in each culture and language is documented, and the use of numbers in time reckoning practices, together with notational cognitive artifacts, is described. Metonymic spatial indices for time intervals and temporal landmarks are common, but metaphoric space-time mapping is almost entirely absent. In two languages, event terms can be used in conjunction with some motion verbs (Moving Time), but these usages do not signify motion on a timeline; they are more related to appearance and disappearance. Moving Ego expressions cannot be used in any of the languages. “Past” and “future” are not lexicalized concepts, but these notions can be metaphorically conceptualized in terms of embodied perception and cognition. They are not thought of as “in front of” or “behind” the experiencer. There is no evidence in any of the three languages of a conceptual timeline. The similarities between time concepts in the three languages, and their similarity with the previously studied Amondawa language, suggests the possibility of a cultural areal complex extending over a large part of South America.

Chronotype and Social Jetlag: A (Self-) Critical Review

“…A limitation of the MCTQ is that all its calculations rely on structured work schedules, which might hinder its use in populations with more flexible schedules or relaxed attitudes towards work times. The same goes for populations whose culture and language do not rely on metric-based concepts of time—like some tribes in Amazonia [53,54]. A second limitation is that sleep timing is not only under circadian control but is also homeostatically regulated [55].…”

Where Are the Months? Mental Images of Circular Time in a Large Online Sample

“…Not all cultures would seem to define or experience time in the same way (Bender and Beller, 2014; Sinha and Gärdenfors, 2014), and importantly, time is not always spatialized and it can be conceptualized as “event-based” time, without space-time mapping (e.g., Silva Sinha et al, 2012; Silva Sinha, 2019). Although time is often spatialized, specific conceptualizations of time differ and some might favor a linear or “open-ended” nature of time, where time begins at one point and then ends at another (e.g., in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism).…”

“…Such an ordinal system, if based on broad classes of natural phenomena such as the astronomical (motions of stars and planets) and seasonal (climate and biological organisms) can include “recursivity” – albeit often with irregularly spaced periodic divisions – and can ultimately be considered cyclical, or as a shape folding back on itself. Some chronologies (e.g., in indigenous Brazilian cultures, Silva Sinha, 2019) can entirely disregard the idea of a linear or cumulative flow of time.…”

“…Eco-time connects people with the environment through their reactions to the rhythms of nature. In addition, regular festivities and celebrations transform eco-time into “socio-time,” a temporal organization of social practice (Silva Sinha, 2019). Through socio-time, people connect to family members (e.g., birthdays, Christmas, etc), society (e.g., holidays, National Day, or Labor Day), the religious community (e.g., Easter, Ramadan or Ashura), or the world at large (e.g., New Year’s Eve).…”

Sequential Time Construal is Primary in Temporal Uses of Mandarin Chinese qian ‘front’ and hou ‘back’

“…The ubiquity of such space-time mapping has led to claims for the universality of the conceptual metaphor TIME IS SPACE (Lakoff & Johnson, 1999;Fauconnier & Turner, 2008). Although neither linguistic space-time metaphor nor the existence of a "mental timeline" appear to be universal (Sinha et al, 2011;Le Guen & Balam, 2012;Le Guen, 2017;Silva Sinha, 2019), the cognitive capacity for space-time mapping is likely to be universal, and this more nuanced universalist hypothesis is underpinned by neuroscientific evidence and theory (Buzsáki & Tingley, 2018).…”