Types of comparisons

Much of the discussion in this book has followed out of postulating a series of polarized contrasts in Tukanoan classifications of people. Some of these contrasts constitute entire chapters (e.g., Tukanoan–Makú, male–female, Tukanoan–white), whereas others (e.g., coresident–other, own-language group–other) are described in several chapters. Although most contrasts are dichotomies, some are trichotomies, most notably the agnate–affine–mother's child contrast. Accentuating such polarities is a useful tactic for explicating the major differences between various classes of people and nonpeople important in Tukanoan social structure.

Another type of comparison consists of a class of elements ordered along a continuum according to their possession of varying amounts of a particular property. Examples of this are the birth order of siblings and the system of ranked sibs within a language group.

A third type of comparison also involves the notion of continuum, but in this case one end of the continuum is the core or nucleus and the other end is peripheral, whose significance mainly derives from being the opposite of the core. An example of this is the longhouse, the symbol of all that is human, social, and spiritual. Next in order on the scale are the river, the forest, and finally the wild and anomalous features of the landscape, such as tatá boa (naturally occurring forest clearings) and the rocky outcrops and caves sporadically looming high above the forest floor.