Motifs in oral tradition tales: Kari'ña, Pemon and Ye'kwana

Abstract

The ethnological matters dealt with in this paper are concerned with three North Carib groups ---Kari’ña, Pemon and Ye’kwana--- all of them settled within Venezuelan boundaries. The aim has been to index those lexical items representing “motifs” (Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, Stith Thompson, 1950-1955) within oral tales by means of which traditions are passed on from a generation to the following one.  Thompson (1946) defines “motif” as “[…]  the smallest element in a tale having a power to persist in tradition. In order to have this power it must have something unusual and striking about it” (pág. 415). The compiled motif-index, or MI, comes from 8 tales, labeled as text-files 1 though 8: 2 of them elicited by Kari’ña natives, 2 by Pemon ones, and 4 more by Ye’kwana ones; a total of 31 motifs were indexed within these 8 text-files. The motifs identify human and non-human entities with fantastic physical and behavior traits. As well, the MI includes motifs referring activities performed by the above-mentioned kind of entites, for which especial attitudes and instruments are required. Along the paper, each motifs indexed is presented to the reader both in context and in a separate matrix in which every descriptor fits within the type(s) and subtype(s) set up by Thompson (1955-1958); Valory (1967); and Wilbert (1979, 1975). The tales analyzed were collected in the native languages by the author, and they were transcribed by him as part of his researches about the Kari’ña, Pemon and Ye’kwana morphosyntax. Nonetheless, for this paper, the author used segments previously translated into Spanish by Civrieux (1970, 1976); Armellada and Bentivenga (1980); Guevara (2011); Armellada (1973); and Arreaza Adam (2005). The final MI supplied the data for an additional attempt to characterize ethnoculturally these northern Carib peoples. .