Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This paper aims to analyze the Fijian chiefdom as a dialectical process of mythologizing myth and re-regimenting political reality among clans (yavusa) through the chief coronation ritual. In this endeavor, the paper focuses on the long-term discussion process about the past or myth of the land, namely performed by the elders in the Dawasamu district in Tailevu, Fiji, and examines how its narrative conveyed and visualized the prototype of the land past by re-identifying who the quintessential owners of the land were to install a chief. It also asks how the basic contrastive valued schema of "here and now" and "there and then" was analogically construed to the relationship between the supporters and opponents of the chief installation through highlighting that the chief coronation ritual was enacted as an icon of the re-interpreted schema of the mythical past of the land as an "orthodox" myth of the land, toppling down the current political regime among clans by eliminating the opponents (or devils). In this way, the paper attempts to integrate the two analytical points of view in Oceania cultural anthropology: 1) the semantic analysis of myth by Sahlins and others, whose ultimate focus is placed on denoting the symbolic structure as epitomized in the chief coronation ritual, 2) the pragmatic analysis in the recent discussion about kastom, which examines the ordinary narrative process of re-defining the criteria of orthodoxy on "tradition". In doing so, it applies the theoretical perspective of linguistic anthropology, which explicitly identifies the two different levels of event (praxis), i.e., the semantic (ritual) and pragmatic (narrative) aspects by re-identifying the problem in Sahlins' concept, "mytho-praxis", which displays reductionism in his semiotic viewpoint of acculturation as the dialectics of "structure" (myth) and "history" (event).

Paper long abstract

This paper aims to analyze the Fijian chiefdom as a dialectical process of mythologizing myth and re-regimenting political reality among clans through the chief coronation ritual.

In this endeavor, the paper focuses on the discussion process about the mythical past of the land in the Dawasamu, Fiji, and examines how its narrative visualized the prototype of the land past by re-identifying the quintessential owners of the land to install a chief. It also asks how the contrastive valued schema of "here and now" and "there and then" was analogically construed to the relationship between the supporters and opponents of the chief installation through highlighting that the chief coronation ritual was enacted as an icon of the re-interpreted schema of the mythical past of the land as an "orthodox" myth.

In this way, the paper attempts to integrate the two analytical points of view in Oceania cultural anthropology: 1) the semantic analysis of myth by Sahlins and others, whose ultimate focus is placed on denoting the symbolic structure as epitomized in the chief coronation ritual, 2) the pragmatic analysis about kastom, examining the ordinary narrative process of re-defining the criteria of orthodoxy on "tradition". In doing so, it applies the theoretical perspective of linguistic anthropology, which explicitly identifies the two different levels of event (praxis), i.e., the semantic (ritual) and pragmatic (narrative) aspects by re-identifying the problem in Sahlins' concept, "mytho-praxis", which displays reductionism in his semiotic viewpoint of acculturation as the dialectics of "structure" (myth) and "history" (event).

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

The paper explores the relationships among immigrants' and their descendants' ethnic, local, and (trans)national identities and their language identities. It focuses specifically on their language practices, ideologies and other elements used in identity construction in Izola, Slovene Istria.

Paper long abstract

In the present paper the author explores the relationships among immigrants' and their descendants' ethnic, local, national, and transnational identities and their language identities. It focuses specifically on their language (socio-cultural, indexical) practices and ideologies used in identity construction.

The paper deals with immigrants from other republics of former Yugoslavia in the coastal Istrian town of Izola, Slovenia. The coastal, Slovene-Italian bilingual, area of Slovene Istria experienced drastic changes in its ethnic structure due to political and economic migrations after World War II, prominently in the 70's. The field, therefore, represents a linguistically, culturally and ethnically heterogeneous area in which cultural and language contacts act and have been reinforced by new migrations. Groups and individuals (re)produce "sites" of manifold, ambivalent and contradictory language ideologies, emic - but not exclusively - interpretations and discourses, in order to rationalize language use on the basis of social relations.

Through the latter the author attempts to shed light on situational identity negotiation practices and on the blurring/maintaining boundaries between languages; language consciousness; ethnic, language and speech communities in various everyday speech situations. Furthermore she looks at ideological "cores" embedded in everyday discourses on/of immigrants' and their descendants' languages, language use and groups. The cores and elements used by the interlocutors include: linguistic indexing of identity; the construct of home; roots; diaspora; "mixed" local/regional identity; (trans)national and ethnic identity; in-betweenness; mixed codes; linguistic purism; (in)correct and proper speech; authenticity; language choice and shift; language acquisition and cultural transmission; heritage; language (sometimes related ethnic) hierarchization; etc.

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This paper compares collocations as used in Tamil, Malay and English.The second part of the paper discusses on how movement of South Indians to South East Asia has influenced word knowledge and word use of neighboring language communities.

Paper long abstract

This article discusses the use psycho collocations in Tamil to assign individual behavior and personality traits. The paper extends from Matisoff's (1986) observation that the use of body parts in psycho collocation is a unique south east Asian areal linguistic features and there are areas of similarities among a number of Asian languages. This paper used expressions from Tamil to explain how human characteristics and traits are described. Then collocations from Tamil, Malay and English are analyzed to reveal a pattern in meaning construction. The second part of the paper will explore various body parts and how they have been co-constructed over time and context. The third section will conclude with a discussion on how movement of South Indians to different parts of South East Asian have influenced neighboring language communities.

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

Were one to read collections of printed riddles, one might assume that they might be used anyhow and in any order. The evidence of riddling events leads rather to the view that riddling in Newfoundland has its own 'rules' which the presentation will attempt to describe.

Paper long abstract

While there is a substantial number of collections of riddles as texts, the number of discussions of riddling as a social activity is very much smaller (some exceptions to this overall tendency include the work of Abrahams and of Haring). This paper, drawing on fieldwork undertaken in Newfoundland in the early years of this century, aims to abstract the 'rules' or etiquette governing how riddles are posed and solutions proposed in this culture, addressing such topics as turn-taking, thematic links between previous and current riddles, what constitutes an 'acceptable' wrong solution, and when in a session it is acceptable to introduce double-entendre riddles.

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This paper discusses how inhabitants of the island of Korčula (Croatia) use a special kind of stereotypes – group nicknames (ethnophaulisms) for the inhabitants of other settlements in order to differentiate local groups, coexisting on this rather small territory.

Paper long abstract

This paper presents a part of the research carried out on the island of Korčula (Croatia) among contemporary identification processes among its inhabitants.

Having in mind the premise about the importance of Other(s) in the process of the construction of one's own identity (Barth 1969), one of the aims of this research was to find out who the "significant Other(s)" for the inhabitants of the island of Korčula are and how they are represented. The ways of representation are very different but usually involve constructing the reality, particularly throughout language (Berger&Luckmann 1966; Joseph 2004). Stereotypes are inevitable part of these processes (Lippmann 1922; Triandis&Vassiliou 1967).

The research was carried out by using qualitative methodology (semi-structured interviews) and ethnographic approach (observation and participant - observation).

The results showed that several types or levels of Others co-exist on this rather small island and that a very elaborate way of marking this "otherness" i.e. representing mutual differences still have been in everyday use. In addition to usual stereotypisation of Other(s), based on speech or mentality, a special type of stereotypes, group nicknames (i.e. ethnic slurs) for inhabitants of each settlement will be discussed in this paper. Although these ethnophaulisms might seem unimportant in everyday island life, the research' results show that stereotyped representation(s) of self and other(s), coded in just one word - nickname - have an important purpose as well as a certain value in globalized world; they are far from being, as one of the interlocutors said, "just part of folklore".

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

Repetitive structures in Tamil, Malay and Melanau share several similarities. This paper will use data from the various languages to show how repetitive features from Tamil have influenced neighboring language communities.

Paper long abstract

Reduplication is an important phenomenon in a number of South Asian languages. While its linguistic forms have long been studied in terms of formalist theories, the role of reduplication in English has been widely ignored. This paper will explore repetitive structures in Tamil (South Indian language) and compare them with the semantic and syntactic features of a number of Austronesian languages that used repetitive forms in Borneo. The second part of the paper will look at specific repetitive forms used in by early and contemporary Tamil, Malay and Melanau speakers in Malaysia, and explain how the language used by both immigrant and indigenous communities in the region has been affected over time via language dominance and pragmatism. The third section will explains the semantic and syntactical organization of the various forms in Tamil has changed which retaining their meanings. Finally, it will explain how continued migration in Asia is influencing the manner in which English being used in South Asia.