[ Index of Recent Volumes | Previous Issue | Next Issue | Order]

Vol. 42, no. 1 (Spring 2000)

Contents

Abstracts

Major Categories in Shipibo Ethnobiological Taxonomy

Pilar Valenzuela
University of Oregon and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Abstract. The Shipibo system of ethnobiological classification is found to be generally in accordance with the cross-cultural generalizations of Brent Berlin and Cecil H. Brown, among others, specifically with regard to the development and organization of major categories, such as life-forms. Nevertheless, the Shipibo system also presents certain special problems for the cross-cultural study of ethnobiological taxonomies, displaying unexpected intermediate zoological ranks. Finally, details of Shipibo categorization of plants and animals, including the naming of categories, suggest that human intervention in taxonomic systems needs to be considered beyond the mere perception of apparent characteristics of the items classified.

�Antimarriage� in Ancient Georgian Society

Kevin Tuite
Universit� de Montr�al

Abstract. One of the more striking features of the traditional cultures of the northeastern Georgian provinces of Pshavi and Khevsureti is the premarital relationship known as c�ac�loba (Pshavi) or sc�orproba (Khevsureti). This relationship was formed between young women and men from the same community, including between close relatives. It had a strong emotional, even intimate, component, yet it was not to result in either marriage or the birth of a child. Either outcome would have been considered incestuous. I demonstrate that the Svans, who speak a Kartvelian language distantly related to Georgian, preserve a structurally comparable ritual, the designation of which, ch�ae:ch�i:laer, is formed from a root cognate with that of c�ac�loba. On the basis of a comparative analysis of these Svan and Pshav-Khevsurian practices in the context of traditional Georgian beliefs concerning marriage and relationships between �in-groups� and �out-groups,� I propose a reconstruction of the significance of *c�ac�-al- �antimarriage� in prehistoric Kartvelian social thought.

Calling in the Members: Linguistic Form and Cultural Context in a Yuchi Ritual Speech Genre

Jason Baird Jackson
University of Oklahoma

Mary S. Linn
University of Kansas

Abstract. In the Yuchi ceremonial-ground communities of eastern Oklahoma, language shift from Yuchi to English has prompted a variety of changes in the form and function of several ritual speech genres. While extended orations are now delivered in English, certain shorter and more specialized genres continue to be performed in Yuchi. In this article, we describe and interpret one of these genres: a set of announcements used to assemble the community in preparation for nighttime stomp dances. Known in English as �dance calls,� this genre is contextualized within a broader ethnography of Yuchi ritual speaking and examined for insights into the unique phonological and morphological characteristics of Yuchi ritual discourse. The case of dance-call performance also suggests more general patterns characteristic of the Yuchi language, of Yuchi ritual culture, and of the processes of language loss and maintenance.

�Cultural Scripts� and Communicative Style in Malay (Bahasa Melayu)

Cliff Goddard
University of New England, Australia

Abstract. The �cultural scripts� approach is a descriptive technique that has grown out of the cross-cultural semantic theory of Anna Wierzbicka. The author uses this technique to describe and make sense of aspects of Malay communicative style. The proposed Malay cultural scripts are linked with the importance placed on appropriate (patut, sesuai) behavior and on nasihat �advice�, and on the need to balas budi (roughly) �return good treatment�, to jaga hati orang �look after people�s feelings�, and to menghormati �show respect, deference�.

Last updated: 7 Aug 2000
URL: https://anthling.indiana.edu/v42-1.html
Comments: anthling@indiana.edu
Copyright© 2000 Anthropological Linguistics.