Presentations

Abstract

In his famous introduction to his monograph "Argonauts of the Western Pacific" Bronislaw Malinowski (1922: 24f.) points out that a "collection of ethnographic statements, characteristic narratives, typical utterances, items of folk-lore and magical formulae has to be given as a corpus inscriptionum, as documents of native mentality". This is one of the prerequisites to "grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world". Malinowski managed to document a "Corpus Inscriptionum Agriculturae Quriviniensis" in his second volume of "Coral Gardens and their Magic" (1935 Vol II: 79-342). But he himself did not manage to come up with a holistic corpus inscriptionum for the Trobriand Islanders. One of the main aims I have been pursuing in my research on the Trobriand Islanders' language, culture and cognition has been to fill this ethnolinguistic niche. In this talk I report what I had to do to carry out this complex and ambitious project, what forms and kinds of linguistic and cultural competence I had to acquire, and how I planned my data collection during 16 long- and short-term field trips to the Trobriands between 1982 and 2012. The talk will end with a critical assessment of my Trobriand endeavor.

Abstract

In his famous introduction to his monograph "Argonauts of the Western Pacific" Bronislaw Malinowski (1922: 24f.) points out that a "collection of ethnographic statements, characteristic narratives, typical utterances, items of folk-lore and magical formulae has to be given as a corpus inscriptionum, as documents of native mentality". This is one of the prerequisites to "grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world". Malinowski managed to document a "Corpus Inscriptionum Agriculturae Quriviniensis" in his second volume of "Coral Gardens and their Magic" (1935 Vol II: 79-342). But he himself did not manage to come up with a holistic corpus inscriptionum for the Trobriand Islanders. One of the main aims I have been pursuing in my research on the Trobriand Islanders' language, culture and cognition has been to fill this ethnolinguistic niche. In this essay I report what I had to do to carry out this complex and ambitious project, what forms and kinds of linguistic and cultural competence I had to acquire, and how I planned my data collection during 16 long- and short-term field trips to the Trobriand Islands between 1982 and 2012. The paper ends with a critical assessment of my Trobriand endeavor.

Abstract

In his famous introduction to his monograph "Argonauts of the Western Pacific" Bronislaw Malinowski (1922: 24f.) points out that a "collection of ethnographic statements, characteristic narratives, typical utterances, items of folk-lore and magical formulae has to be given as a corpus inscriptionum, as documents of native mentality". This is one of the prerequisites to "grasp the native's point of view, his relation to life, to realize his vision of his world". Malinowski managed to document a "Corpus Inscriptionum Agriculturae Quriviniensis" in his second volume of "Coral Gardens and their Magic" (1935 Vol II: 79-342). But he himself did not manage to come up with a holistic corpus inscriptionum for the Trobriand Islanders. One of the main aims I have been pursuing in my research on the Trobriand Islanders' language, culture and cognition has been to fill this ethnolinguistic niche. In this talk I report what I had to do to carry out this complex and ambitious project, what forms and kinds of linguistic and cultural competence I had to acquire, and how I planned my data collection during 16 long- and short-term field trips to the Trobriands between 1982 and 2012. The talk will end with a critical assessment of my Trobriand endeavor.

Abstract

In 1997 Moagava, a 29 year old man living in the village of Tauwema on Kaile'una, one of the Trobriand Islands in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, told a group of children and some adults the story of Morevaya and Bukuruvi. In this talk I first present this tale in morpheme-interlinear transcription and translation, then I look at the text in detail with respect to both its form and content. This analysis reveals the macro- and micro-structure of the tale and isolates the verbal means used by the narrator which indicate the linearization principles that underlie the macrostructure of the story. The talk ends with some concluding remarks on the anthropological-linguistic and cognitive linguistic significance of studies like the present one.

Abstract

In 1997 Kalavatu, a 45 year old man living in the village of Tauwema on Kaile'una, one of the Trobriand Islands in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, told a group of children and some adults the story of Kavalokwa. In this talk I first present this tale in morpheme-interlinear transcription and translation (see handout), then I look at the text in detail with respect to both its form and content. This analysis reveals the macrostructure of the tale and isolates the verbal means used by the narrator which indicate the linearization principles that underlie this macrostructure of the story. The talk ends with some concluding remarks on the anthropological-linguistic and cognitive linguistic significance of studies like the present one.