Human beings and other people: Classification of human groups and categories among the Nage of Flores (eastern Indonesia)

Abstract

Speakers of a Central-Malayo-Polynesian language, the Nage of central Flores possess three terms for ‘person, people’ and ‘human being’: ata, hoga, and kita ata. The paper explores various semantic and social contexts in which the terms are differentially employed. Further discussed are lexical connections and semantic parallels with terms in other Malayo-Polynesian languages and the way these bear on the referents of Austronesian protoforms. Particular attention is given to Blust’s reconstruction of *qa(R)(CtT)a (reflected by Nage ata) as a word hypothetically specifying ‘outsiders, alien people’. With reference to Nage and other languages of Flores, it is shown how, rather than a simple contrast of outsiders and own group, ata and hoga are employed to express a variety of kinds and degrees of association or disassociation between speaker and referent. In this connection further attention is given to: (1) the question of whether Nage terms for humans and compounds formed from these compose a taxonomy comparable to the taxonomic ordering of plants and animals commonly found in folk biological classifications, and (2) the relation between the terms denoting human beings and Nage categories translatable as ‘(non-human) animal’ and ‘spiritual being’.