Toward a Semiotics of Nicknaming the Kamsá Example

Abstract

NICKNAMING PRACTICES are widely distributed, and everywhere contoured to the cultural matrices in which they operate. This article is concerned with those nicknaming traditions productive of humorous or derogatory appellations attached to the name bearer through bearer through fortuitous circumstance. The discussion to follow, while restricted to one manifestation of a ubiquitous signing mechanism, should nonetheless provide a preliminary framework for dealing with the more general problem of nicknaming.