2025/01/13 by Luca Ciucci, Ciucci, Luca
Arts and Humanities · #Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.18716/ojs/the_mouth.3124
openalex publication_date 2025/01/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
This study addresses language secrecy and concealment in Chamacoco, with particular reference to the so-called Ebitoso dialect, spoken by the vast majority of Chamacoco people. Secrecy and concealment involving Chamacoco manifest themselves into four aspects: (i) the secrecy of the Chamacoco Indigenous religion, which resulted in linguistic taboos, mostly concerning myths and ritual songs; (ii) the concealment of the Chamacoco language, a strategy adopted when speakers want to hide their Indigenous identity; (iii) the use of Chamacoco as a secret language, in other contexts; (iv) the emergence of a secret register in Chamacoco, as a reaction to the Hispanization of the language, which makes some expressions potentially understandable to Spanish speakers.