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Narrative and Identity Construction in the Pacific Islands
Edited by Farzana Gounder
[Studies in Narrative 21] 2015
► pp. 81–100

Small stories and associated identities in Neverver

For the Neverver-speaking people of Malekula Island in Vanuatu, name avoidance is a central part of everyday life. Name avoidance permeates all types of discourse, including nimitl (traditional legends) and nossorian lele (little stories) that arise in more and less formal contexts. I examine name avoidance by tracing four women through a large corpus of recorded speech events. I consider a traditional folk figure, a young woman who worked closely with me, her paternal aunt, and myself. Drawing on a variety of narrative types and my associated ethnographic observations, I look at the choices that speakers make in context to talk about and to these women (including myself), revealing that naming choices embed speakers fully in their society.
Published online: 20 May 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.21.04bar
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Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Daly, Nicola & Julie Barbour
2021. ‘Because, they are from here. It is their identity, and it is important’: teachers’ understanding of the role of translation in vernacular language maintenance in Malekula, Vanuatu. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 24:9 ► pp. 1414 ff. DOI logo

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