Chapter 3 At the Heart of the Murui
In: The Art of LanguageSearch for other papers by Katarzyna I. Wojtylak in
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Abstract
In Murui, a Witotoan language spoken in the northwestern parts of the Amazon, komekɨ is simply translated as ‘heart’. But is this its real meaning? It turns out that the word ‘heart’ in Murui can be understood in two ways: one physical heart, namely an organ of a particular shape, and the other conceptual heart, relating to the realm of an individuum, their essence. This distinction is brought about by the two meanings of the classifier -ki. The physical ‘heart’ is round like a fruit, while the conceptual ‘heart’ is one’s mind or thought, and it is the place where human emotions and feelings reside. In addition, this twofold distinction is reflected in the language where the latter instance of ‘heart’ is grammatically beached.