Reporting, capturing and voicing speech amongst the Araweté

This paper addresses instances in which another person's speech is made one's own. Starting with the presentation of reported speech practices in daily conversations, then moving to semi-ritual retellings, speech play and the capture of another's voice by force, it finally brings examples of voicing nonhumans in ritual discourse. Drawing on studies of reported speech, voicing and capture in Amazonia and elsewhere, it suggests a possible connection between these different modalities of using another's speech. Reporting, taking and voicing speech, here, are related acts, but with a decreasing distance between animator and author. Finally, the paper argues that Amerindian understandings of the voice are a step in understanding the meaning of reference in the Amerindian linguistic natures.