In the western highlands of Sumba, incest and adultery seriously disturb the social order, necessitating verbal and economic retribution in a ritual context. During one rainy season, a man named Mbulu Mada carried on an illicit love affair with his uncle's wife, a woman called Lyali Leba. They had not only violated a strict rule against adultery enforced among the approximately 70,000 people inhabiting the Weyewa-speaking districts, but, since Lyali was also a distant agnate to Mbulu, they had also committed incest (sála). In February 1979, about ten years after the affair was terminated, a series of misfortunes struck their families. Lyali tripped and fell while fetching water and hurt her knee; her father was killed suddenly in a fire of suspicious origin; and Mbulu's son became ill with a disease which caused his arms, legs and face to swell up like balloons. A diviner was called in, their confessions elicited, a placation rite was staged, and several chickens, three pigs and a water buffalo lost their lives as sacrifices to soothe the angered spirits.

This oblation was accompanied by a ‘prayer’ (bára), delivered by a specialist spokesman, Mbulu Renda, in the richly metaphorical, parallelistic style of ‘ritual speech’ (panéwe ténda) required in all Weyéwa ceremonial occasions. His attempt to expiate verbally the guilt, on behalf of the two sinners, is recorded below and is the subject of this analysis. Typical in form and content, this prayer translates, with vivid metaphors, the sexual transgression into terms concordant with their cosmology and symbolism.

The ten essays that compose this volume are directed to a examination of an ethnographic phenomenon of singular importance: the prevalent use of strict forms of parallelism in traditional oral communication. In communication of this kind, parallelism is promoted to the status of canon, and paired correspondences, at the semantic and syntactic levels, result in what is essentially a dyadic language – the phenomenon of ‘speaking in pairs’.

Since such forms of parallelism are widely attested in the oral poetry and elevated speech of a variety of peoples of the world, comprehension of this linguistic phenomenon is crucial to an understanding of oral literature. Moreover, since patterns of dyadic composition are implicated in diverse forms of communication, consideration of this phenomenon is equally important to an understanding of the ethnography of rhetoric and ritual.

The essays in this volume all deal with forms of dyadic language that occur within a single broadly defined ethnographic area, namely the islands of eastern Indonesia. Each essay is concerned with the particularities of dyadic composition in a separate cultural setting. This is in itself strategically important since it allows the possibility of co-ordinated comparison among related languages and cultures. As a whole, therefore, the volume represents a concerted attempt to focus examination on dyadic language as a special linguistic phenomenon in a comparative ethnographic context.

Eastern Indonesia, the context for this comparison, is an area of considerable linguistic diversity – a common feature of many of the areas of the world where complex forms of parallelism are particularly prominent. Eastern Indonesia's linguistic diversity is due to both geographical and historical factors.

Introduction

Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island, lies between Borneo and the Moluccas, with its peninsular arms extending in every direction. The fertile plains of the island's southwestern arm rise into rugged mountains formed of limestone and volcanic tuffs in the north. These mountains, through which the Sa'dan River and its tributaries flow, are the homeland of 320,000 Sa'dan Toraja people. At altitudes between 3000 and 4000 feet, the Toraja cultivate rice in irrigated fields carved into the mountainside, supplemented by cassava, corn, and Arabica coffee as a cash crop. Water buffalo, pigs, and chickens are raised for both food and ritual purposes. Recently, international tourism and labour outmigration have begun to play a role in the economy. Religious change, begun in the Dutch colonial period with Protestant missionising, has accelerated since Indonesian independence as the Toraja increasingly convert to Christianity. Language is changing as well. Although all Toraja speak a Malayo-Polynesian language known to the Dutch as Tae′ (after the local word for ‘no’), and known to the Toraja simply as basa Toraya (‘Toraja language’), most younger educated Toraja also speak Indonesian, a trend likely to continue as education and outmigration increase.

The Toraja are famous in Western travel brochures and throughout Indonesia for their exuberant ritual life. In particular, spectacular funerals with hundreds or thousands of guests, scores of sacrificed buffalo and pigs, and dizzying cliff burials have attracted the attention of adventurers, film-makers, and scholars. Less attention, however, has been paid to the speech that plays a vital role in this ritual tradition. In spite of changes occurring throughout Toraja culture, speech continues to be a source of power and pleasure, in both ritual and everyday life.

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to analyse two ritual language texts gathered from the Endenese of central Flores and to consider the significance of some of the metaphors employed in them. These metaphors are not only common to other Endenese rituals, but also occur in the rituals of other societies in eastern Indonesia. Thus this paper may, I hope, contribute to a general comparative understanding of eastern Indonesian societies.

The two texts which I wish to examine are examples of what the Endenese call mbuku, a form of ritual speech employed at bridewealth negotiations. The principal metaphors in the two texts are spatial metaphors, involving the idea of a ‘journey’ as applied to marriage relations. Some basic background information on the Endenese and various forms of their marriage is necessary to make the texts and their recurrent metaphors comprehensible.

The Endenese are a people, numbering approximately 78,000, who live in central Flores. To the east of the Endenese are the people called the Lionese, who speak a dialect of Endenese. To the west of the Endenese live another group (sometimes called the Nga'o-nese) whose language could also be classified as a dialect of Endenese. This situation of dialectal diversity provides each population with a wide range of vocabulary with which to create parallel couplets, since it allows the possibility of borrowing synonymous words from a neighbouring dialect. We thus find in the ritual language such dyadic sets as nosi (a Lionese word for ‘to tell, to msixuct’) // sodho (an Endenese equivalent), kerho (an Endenese word for ‘to forget’)//ghéwo (a Nga'o-nese equivalent).

Introduction

This paper explores the etiquette used for communicating with the spirits among the Kodi people of west Sumba. It examines speech rules and forms of address in order to discern an underlying division within Kodi cosmology and the hierarchical structure to which it is related. The focus is on the Kodi articulation of the universe as made up of both natural and supernatural interlocutors who must be approached in a specific manner, and whose relations to each other are structured and expressed in language. These relations may variously be cast in the metaphors of parent to child, host to guest, speaker to messenger, companion to companion, and intermediate authority to supreme power. In each of the various contexts of ritual interactions certain kinds of relationship are stressed, and there is a discernible pattern which distinguishes the types of spiritual being addressed and the style of interaction appropriate for each. I shall argue that this pattern is worked out in relation to the cultural boundary between the forces of the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, and I shall then present the style of ritual etiquette which is appropriate for each. In a final sense, this paper is an effort to arrive at more general ideas of social and cosmic order through an examination of the use of ritual language and its constitutive principles. Although the use of formal language is not strictly confined to communications with the spirit world, this paper will treat it primarily within that context, as this is where its traditional patterns remain most salient in the still largely unconverted communities of west Sumba.

This paper provides a reading of the translation of a single text in Rotinese ritual language. I have chosen this text for a variety of reasons, but, in particular, because it offers a glimpse of the world created through the cultural imagination of the Rotinese. The underlying assumptions, conventional expressions, and complex philosophy of life that give coherence to this poetic world cannot all be explicated in this paper. My intention is simply to examine the text selectively at various levels from its metaphysical allegory to the minutiae of the formulae embodied in it. As such, this reading may provide something of an introduction to the possibilities of this form of poetry.

Introduction to the historical text

In 1911 the renowned Dutch linguist, J.C.G. Jonker, published the text of a long Rotinese ritual chant. He added this single chant to his collection of Rotinese texts as an ‘example of poetic style’ which he recognised was characterised by ‘sustained parallelism’. But instead of translating the chant, which he implied was ‘obscure’, he merely provided a series of notes to it with a translation of the ordinary language paraphrase that accompanied the text (Jonker 1911:97–102, 130–135). In 1913 Jonker published another collection of texts in a variety of Rotinese dialects and, in 1915, his massive Rotinese grammar, but he never again gave further consideration to the chant, and so it has remained the only untranslated portion of his vast corpus of Rotinese material.

Introduction

This paper deals with problems concerning the efficacy of ritual language. These problems will be investigated in relation to a specific case of stolen communal heirlooms which occurred during the period of my field research in 1983.

In dealing with these problems, we should distinguish two aspects of the efficacy of ritual language: the power of words which are believed to bring to realisation what is intended, and the effectiveness of words in appealing to the imagination.

Like other peoples in central Flores, the Lionese people have a strong belief in the power of words. They insist that curses can kill, discourage, or cause misfortune to persons who are antagonistic to them, and that spells can protect them from misfortune.

Although the thieves who stole the heirlooms were repeatedly cursed in ritual language, they did not seem to die, nor did they reveal themselves, nor return the heirlooms. How could the inefficacy of these curses, then, be reconciled with Lionese belief in the power of words and their confidence in the effectiveness of words?

By interpreting the phrases in the ritual speeches presented in the course of events prompted by the disappearance of the heirlooms, I hope to make clear the Lionese concept of their society and the social role of ritual language. Furthermore, on the basis of this analysis of specific examples of Lionese ritual language, I would like to comment on the general significance of the study of ritual language. And then, by exploring the explanation for the failure of the curse, I would like to elucidate the Lionese theory of the power of words.

The chapters in Part III address the question of whether there are any differences between males and females in cerebral organization and neurological maturation that have linguistic effects. The question has two subparts: First, are there any biologically based differences in brain organization or maturation that can be correlated absolutely or partially with sex? And, second, if such differences exist, what consequences, if any, are there for cognition in general and language in particular?

The volatility of the topic must be admitted at the outset. Scientific research is presumably objective, but it is difficult to ensure that research into this particular topic is value-free. The study of the implications of biologically based sex differences raises the specter of genetic determinism, of using the results of scientific inquiry to substantiate cultural prejudices and biases. I admit the presence of the specter; I believe that anyone working in this area must face squarely the possible political ramifications of his or her work. Having laid my political cards on the table, I do not intend to play out the hand. I focus only on the scientific aspects of this investigation.

Investigation of the correlation between sex and brain organization or maturation has a long history, spanning two millennia. Men and women have been perceived, through the ages, as different on physical, emotional, and intellectual grounds – essentially with respect to every parameter. The issue, then, has been how to account for such differences.

Many anthropologists working in Papua New Guinea have focused on the social relationships between the sexes (Brown and Buchbinder 1976; Langness 1967; Malinowski 1929; Mead 1935; Meggitt 1964; O'Brien and Tiffany 1984). For example, there have been extensive accounts of sexual antagonism and the separateness of men and women in a variety of social spheres in the Highlands. Indeed, the range of male–female relationships and ideologies found in Papua New Guinea has fascinated researchers for many years and has been the basis for developing theories in several different areas.

On the one hand, interest in male–female relations has been directed to issues of initiation, pollution, and self-concepts (see, for example, Faithorn 1975; Hays and Hays 1982; Herdt 1982; Poole 1981; Read 1954). Another direction has been away from the focus on individuals and toward seeing individuals as the vehicles for the creation and validation of social alliances. Out of this framework have come theories of social organization, marriage and exchange, and conception (e.g., Clay 1977; Glasse and Meggitt 1969; R. Kelly 1977; A. Strathern 1973; M. Strathern 1972; Wagner 1967; Weiner 1976). More recently, anthropologists have investigated the relationships among gender, nature, and culture in order to understand better the organization and ideology of social life (Gewertz 1983; Gillison 1980; Goodale 1980; Meigs 1976; A. Strathern 1979; M. Strathern 1980).

Introduction

This chapter considers gender differences and language use in Samoan society. It will argue that, whereas there are linguistic differences between men's and women's speech, the differences are minor in comparison to what is shared. The similarities in language structure and behavior can be accounted for in part by Gumperz's prediction that sharing of linguistic features will be sensitive to frequency and intimacy of interpersonal contact (1968). More particular to the Samoan case, social rank interacts with gender in complex ways as a social constraint affecting language variation. For certain linguistic features and for certain social settings, relative age and political status are more powerful predictors of usage patterns than gender. Men and women of relatively high rank will speak differently from men and women of lower rank. This appears to be true for expression of sympathy in narratives and for use of case marking in family conversations. Gender joins age and political status as an important social variable in accounting for case marking in conversations outside one's family. It takes precedence over other social variables in accounting for one linguistic behavior – word-order preferences (preferences for ordering of the major constituents – subject, verb, and object).