ogatakoja

Noun

 * 1) language the system of verbal communication used by a particular community
 * 2) speech, talk, rumor
 * Kamani pakakapai ogatakojainyalun? Aminya pakaka.
 * Why do you believe gossip [lit., worthless talk]? Don't pay attention [to it].
 * Aitsa minya iyawa. Ogatakojai hata.
 * [He] won't [actually] go. [It's] just talk.
 * Petemewi ogatakojai?
 * Did you hear what people are saying?
 * 1) manner or style of speaking
 * 2) characteristic vocalization or sound, esp. referring to animals or spirit beings
 * Etemepei ogatakoja.
 * They understand [one another's] language.
 * [Offered as an explanation of why two parrots were nestled against one another and cooing.]
 * Huuh iwaa! Yaitakonapai! Huuh iwaaaa!
 * Yaityatakonapai: outa inyaun... Kawoka ogatakoja. Apwotakonape toneju kawoka openuutsa, umapai.
 * [Storyteller:] Huuh iwaa! The men whooped and shouted [in one voice]! Huuh iwaaaa!
 * [Later comment by young adult man:] [The whooping was] the voice of [the] Flute Spirit. "[The] woman will be buried alive for her sacrilege," it said.
 * [Storyteller:] Huuh iwaa! The men whooped and shouted [in one voice]! Huuh iwaaaa!
 * [Later comment by young adult man:] [The whooping was] the voice of [the] Flute Spirit. "[The] woman will be buried alive for her sacrilege," it said.

Usage notes

 * The Sacred Flutes are forbidden to the sight of women, upon pain of gang rape, at least in former times. In the story, a bold young woman commits a grave sacrilege, disguising herself as a man and actually playing the flutes. When the sacrilege is discovered, she is buried alive as punishment, and then secretly rescued by her lover. The Wauja do not bury women as punishment for violating the taboo; this element of the story appears to be a symbolic transformation.