article

Hocus pocus and extensionism in Central Malaya: notes on Semai kinship terminology

American Anthropologist72 (2)Published In 1970 • Pages: 358-362

By: Dentan, Robert Knox.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This paper presents a componential analysis of the kinship terminology of two groups of Senoi (Semai) studied by the author – termed eastern and western in this source. According to Dentan the eastern group were far less acculturated to the predominant Malay society than were the western Semai. A comparison of the terminology of the two groups, in light of Semai rules regarding proper terminological usage, seems to indicate several inconsistencies which suggest “…that a modified componential analysis conforms to the cognitive categories of the Semai if the extensionist hypothesis that terms have both primary and derived meaning is taken into account” (p. 358-A)." The exposition of this line of reasoning makes up the major bulk of this source.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Cultural participation
Kinship terminology
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Semai
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2012
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southeast Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
John Beierle; 1989
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1962-1963
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1962-1963
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
central Malay Peninsula
NotesAdditional notes
Robert Knox Dentan
Includes bibliographical references (p. 362)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
17015424
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Senoi (Southeast Asian people)