Rituality of the Guaraní Language:

The Agency of ñee iya

Abstract

This work presents a proposal for the analysis of rituality levels of the Guaraní spoken in ceremonial contexts, such as the Arete Guasu or big party, where the participants involve in practices of giving and receiving. In the world of the forest, represented by the spiritual and ancestral, human beings need to have the cognizance, the wisdom, the knowledge contained in spiritual beings and the forest itself. This non-human agency of the forest and of the Guaraní language materialize a specific understanding and a knowledge-doing-power. In this work, the actors of the ritual contexts will be described, and the mediation of the Guaraní language through the ñee iya (the owner of the word) will be analysed. The ñee (the word Guaraní) is an element that sets the cosmopolitics of the ritual speaker / celebrant. It is also an intersection between language, culture and politics. As a transcendental element, the ñee has a rituality, since secrets are handled from language. Thus, the perception and analysis of the ñee iya (the owner or spiritual being of the word) becomes essential to understand the rituality and knowledge of the world of spirits, ancestors and the forest. In this regard, the functions and the role of the “gift of speech” will be described. Finally, we describe the way in which the Guaraní language expresses its sine qua non role in ritual circumstances, since it gives rise to the beginning and the end of cures, secrets imposed or favours for or to someone. The work concludes with a reflection on the different processes that indigenous languages have gone through, which have gradually caused the bias, the elimination or loss of “other languages”.