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talking about troubles: gender differences in Weyéwa speech use
Author(s) -
KUIPERS JOEL C.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
american ethnologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.875
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1548-1425
pISSN - 0094-0496
DOI - 10.1525/ae.1986.13.3.02a00030
Subject(s) - misfortune , narrative , divination , context (archaeology) , poetry , sociology , history , gender studies , descent (aeronautics) , literature , art , geography , archaeology , meteorology
In the Weyéwa highlands of western Sumba, men and women employ a richly metaphorical, poetic form of “ritual speech” in response to sudden misfortune. Men's speech, in the context of divination, placation rites, and celebration songs, tends to be strictly parallelistic, narrative, and indirect, and concerns the continuity of the patriline. Men are regularly paid for their performances, but may be fined for errors. Women's ritual responses to misfortune consist of evocative laments and ululations. While women's speech may influence the immediate social environment, females are not fined for errors. This division of labor in speech relates systematically to the cultural notions of descent as well as the cultural construction of gender in Weyéwa society.