Synopsis of a Boruca terminal speaker

Abstract

This paper is a revised version of a paper that had originally been written for the International Congress of Americanists 1997, in Quito, which the author could not attend due to a last minute situation. The paper was thus not read at that forum. Between July 1997 and its present form two things have happened. Sadly, the speaker whose speech constitutes the subject of this study, don Ernesto González, passed away in 1998. Second, this paper has circulated among colleagues for suggestions, among them the most valuable coming from Miguel Quesada-Pacheco. The author dedicates this paper to the memory of the former and acknowledges the comments from the latter.