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Vol. 60, no. 3 (Fall 2018)

Contents

Abstracts

Four Poems in Passamaquoddy

Philip S. LeSourd
Indiana University

Abstract. This article presents analyses of four poems in Passamaquoddy, an Eastern Algonquian language of Maine, that were published in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some in more than one version. The original texts were included in works by Charles Godfrey Leland and John Dyneley Prince, two of the leading figures in their era involved in documenting the traditions of the Native peoples of New England and Maritime Canada.

The Kinship Terminology of the Dimasa: Alternate Generation Equivalence in the Tibeto-Burman Area

Pascal Bouchery
University of Poitiers, France

Monali Longmailai
Tezpur University, India

Abstract. Most languages of the Bodo-Garo cluster of the Tibeto-Burman family exhibit kinship terminologies that are built upon the principle of seniority and incorporate terminological equivalences between agnatic kin of alternate generations. Interestingly, the latter feature does not appear to be shared by any other language of the Sino-Tibetan family. To find a similar intricate pattern of self-reciprocity between consanguineal relatives of different generations, one has to turn to the Munda systems of Central India (whose languages belong to the Austroasiatic family); this raises several problems of interpretation. Dimasa is chosen here as a model, as it most clearly exhibits the general principles underlying kin classification in Bodo-Garo languages.

The Talking Balafon of the Sambla: Grammatical Principles and Documentary Implications

Laura McPherson
Darthmouth College

Abstract. This article makes the case for linguists to take part in the study of musical surrogate languages, where linguistic form is transposed onto music. It draws on the case study of the Sambla balafon, a West African resonator xylophone. Seenku (Northwestern Mande, Samogo), the language of the Sambla people, has a highly complex tonal system, whose four contrastive levels and multiple contour tones are encoded musically in the notes of the balafon, allowing musicians to communicate without ever opening their mouths. I analyze the grammar of the surrogate language and demonstrate its use in both phonological analysis and language documentation.

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