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This study can be seen as an
empirical ratification of the posture that tends to include sociolinguistics in
dialectology. Through it, you can feasibly see how it is deceptive to try and separate the
diastratic variations of the diatopes. Likewise, it is easy to recognize the openly
critical intent of the social facts that get rid of linguistic analysis, which doesn't
cease to be objective because of this, and thus, we place it on the borderline of critical
analysis in speech.
3. Methodology
In relation to
methodology, a traditional model is kept of the linguistic geography having recognized a
reduced number of informants (a total of ten). We used qualitative (observation of
spontaneous speech, participative observation) and quantitative methods (interviews,
surveys) for the gathering of materials, thus responding to the very nature of the problem
based on class relations, that is to say, diastratic courtesy, noticed upon first contact
with the Sikuani community that inhabits the area of Puerto Gaitán.
4. Variables
It should be
pointed out that the preliminary character of this analysis, due, in part, to the problems
in carrying it out such as: i) time spent with the community, ii) certain
distrust of the informants toward the researchers, iii) paperwork and red tape for
performing surveys and interviews, iv) lack of State support, v)
difficulties in accessing the area because of the presence of subversive groups.
5. The Sikuani community and the form of address ‘pariente’
The indigenous
communities of the Sikuani ethnic group in Colombia are presently experiencing an
accelerated process of the loss of cultural identity due to interethnic contact. Their
relationship with the blanco (white man), from whom they try to emulate their life
style, has led them to a state of estrangement that is evident in a simultaneous loss of
identity and the non-acceptance on the part of 'civilized' groups. Today, the members of
the Sikuani community live on the reservations as well as in the towns near them, in the
middle of a hostile environment given the nature of their cultural masters and the
mistaken class-changing derivation that the colonist masters make. Being Sikuani has
ceased to be synonymous with ‘national heritage’ but has turned into a
‘social problem’. Hidden behind that loss of nationalist idiosyncrasy the
indigenous population sees itself as an ‘object’ of interest to tourists and
mainly researchers that attend different universities. This condition tends to become an
economical usufruct through the demands of the authorities (regional and national) to end
up forgetting their responsibilities and casually leaving themselves in the hands of the
government. In many cases, the land that they have been given is not even used for living
on, much less for growing crops or raising livestock, poultry or fish farming. This only
demonstrates the damage that the application of foreign models to reality (protectionist
policies) has made on a culture with its own characteristics.
The cultural
'alienation’ of the community is expressed in four basic ways in the region of Meta:
social, religious, investigative, and political. The cultural alienation is produced by
the penetration of colonists with their load of products, bars, festivities, brothels,
etc., that is to say, the entire saga of typical daily habits of 'civilized' systems.
Secondly, the crude and inconsiderate desire of the catholic and protestant
‘missions’ to increase their number of followers, forcing the community to get
rid of their mythological wealth, rituals, and ancient beliefs. On the other hand, one
finds the linguistic, anthropological, and other research groups that are not well trained
in the methods of identity preservation who come in unprepared and get the information
required for their work while stepping all over the autonomy of the communities. Finally,
we find the heavy burden of State policies accustomed to solving social problems with the
allocation of resources but never establishing a detailed study of the heterogeneous
factors that focus on the problem in order to better direct the budget.
Within the
main displays of depersonalization we find the marked penetration of commercial values; a
change in the type of political-administrative authority which is less and less in the
hands of the chief, medicine man, or shaman; a forgetting of cultural traditions such as
dances (collective dances are substituted by tropical rhythms), food, drink, attire,
fishing and hunting tools; and, in general, material, spiritual, and social acculturation
(children leaving home, a change in the role of women...).
"In
conclusion, the native that has endured an accelerated process of acculturation and
physical persecution is a social misfit, without an identity of any kind. He is no longer
tied to the community neither is he accepted by the "civilized" society. As he
discovers that society revolves around money and the possession of material goods, he
thinks that by obtaining these things, he can manage to erase some of his supposed
inferiority and will therefore no longer be treated or seen as a "brute".
However, his limited experience in the commercial and financial world just paves the way
for being deceived and falling into the traps that are traditionally set by the sectors
with which he relates." (Agudelo y Cantor, 1988) |
