Place, names, and authority in Weyéwa ritual speech

Abstract

ABSTRACTAmong the Weyéwa of the eastern Indonesian island of Sumba, place names are not merely labels or verbal tools for referring to locations, but rather resources for the construction of discourse. As such, they figure in Weyéwa ritual speech events in two fundamental ways. First, an individual place name can be the topic of etymological speculation, in which the verbal account of the history of a name is an exercise in the establishment of authority. Second, place names frequently occur in lists, as syntagmatic chains which serve to guide the form of ritual speech events. This use of toponyms not only characterizes Weyéwa epic narratives, but rites of misfortune, prayers, and songs. These genres utilize a “path” or “journey” metaphor in which points of the itinerary are spatially anchored by means of place names. (Ritual speech, narrative, authority, place names)