Social Structure, Space and Possession in Tongan Culture and Language
An ethnolinguistic study
Author
This interdisciplinary study investigates the relationship between culture, language and cognition based on the aspects of social structure, space and possession in Tonga, Polynesia. Grounded on extensive field research, Völkel explores the subject from an anthropological as well as from a linguistic perspective. The book provides new insights into the language of respect, an honorific system which is deeply anchored in the societal hierarchy, spatial descriptions that are determined by socio-cultural and geocentric parameters, kinship terminology and possessive categories that perfectly express the system of social status inequalities among relatives. These examples impressively show that language is deeply anchored in its cultural context. Moreover, the linguistic structures reflect the underlying cognitive frame of its speakers. Just as several cultural practices (sitting order, access to land and gift exchange processes) the linguistic means are not only expressions of stratified social networks but also tools to maintain or negotiate the underlying socio-cultural system.
[Culture and Language Use, 2] 2010. xv, 272 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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List of maps, figures and tables | pp. ix–xii
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Acknowledgements | pp. xiii–xiv
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Symbols and abbreviations | pp. xv–xvi
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Chapter 1. Introduction | pp. 1–24
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Part I. Anthropological issues
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Chapter 2. Social structure | pp. 27–56
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Chapter 3. Land and the symbolic meaning of space | pp. 57–76
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Chapter 4. Possession and gift exchange | pp. 77–96
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Chapter 5. Conclusion:: Connecting remarks on social structure, space and possession | pp. 97–102
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Photo illustrations | pp. 101–102
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Part II. Linguistic issues
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Chapter 6. Spatial descriptions | pp. 105–154
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Chapter 7. A- and O-possession | pp. 155–194
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Chapter 8. The language of respect | pp. 195–238
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Chapter 9. Conclusions | pp. 239–244
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Appendix 1. Question catalogue of the Niutouan inquiry (in English and Tongan) | pp. 253–256
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Appendix 2. Lists of A- and O-possessed semantic categories and single items in different Polynesian languages | pp. 257–260
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Appendix 3. List of A- and O-possessed semantic categories and single concrete nouns in Tongan according to Churchward (cf. 1953: 81–87) | pp. 261–266
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Glossary of Tongan terms | pp. 267–270
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Index | pp. 271–272
“The volume is of interest to anthropologists as well as linguists and gives great insights into the interaction of cognition, culture and language usage.”
Marion Grein, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, in Language and Dialogue Vol. 1:2 (2011)
Cited by
Cited by 6 other publications
Grein, Marion
2013. Review of Sharifian (2011): Cultural Conceptualisations and Language. Theoretical Framework and Applications. Language and Dialogue 3:3 ► pp. 490 ff.
VÖLKEL, SVENJA
Völkel, Svenja
2017. Word classes and the scope of lexical flexibility in Tongan. Studies in Language 41:2 ► pp. 445 ff.
Völkel, Svenja
2021. Tongan honorifics and their underlying concepts ofmanaandtapu. Pragmatics & Cognition 28:1 ► pp. 25 ff.
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFB: Sociolinguistics
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General