Book
Kuna ways of speaking: an ethnographic perspective
University of Texas Press • Austin • Published In 1983 • Pages: xii, 260 , plates
By: Sherzer, Joel.
Abstract
This study, based primarily on fieldwork done in 1968-1970s on the island of Mulatuppu in the San Blas area, examines language and speech as the central and organizing focus of Kuna society. Sherzer's analysis is based on naturally occurring speech, observed and recorded in actual contexts and studied in terms of its relationship to these contexts (p. 10). As the result of the central and organizing role of language and speech in Kuna life, the author is able to present new and different insights into the nature of Kuna social and political organization, religion, economics, medicine, world view and aesthetics. The text of this work examines in turn the complex set of Kuna sociolinguistic resources, forms of discourse central to the prevading areas of Kuna ritual life -- politics, curing, magic, and puberty rites, discourse in everday life, patterned interrelationships linking many types of Kuna discourse and verbal interaction and the processes involved in the transmission and acquisition of speaking ability.
- HRAF PubDate
- 1999
- Region
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub Region
- Central America
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 1997
- Field Date
- ca. 1968-1970s
- Coverage Date
- ca. 1968-1970s
- Coverage Place
- Mulatuppu Island; San Blas Coast and Islands, Panama
- Notes
- by Joel Sherzer
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-260)
- LCCN
- 83001318
- LCSH
- Cuna Indians