Tenets of the 'unseen': The preferred information source for the supernatural in Tariana

Supernatural experience — the spirits of the jungle, the effect of healers and of various shamans, both benevolent and evil — plays an important role in the stories and in the everyday life of the speakers of Tariana, an Arawak language from the multilingual Vaupés Linguistic Area of north-west Amazonia in Brazil. Fear of spirits’ retaliation dictates the taboos. Healers are relied upon for personal well-being, and powerful shamans can inflict damage if offended or not placated enough. The Tariana language has an elaborate system of grammatical marking of evidentiality, with five terms. The use of evidentials depends on the information source of the speaker and sometimes also of the addressee. It also correlates with the speaker’s status — and whether or not they have access to the ‘unseen’.