Semantically Redundant Language--A Case Study

Abstract

In this article, I discuss the concept of semantically redundant language through a case study of the Te Rauparaha Maori haka. I suggest that current linguistic theories cannot give a full account of ritualized speech events, of which the haka is an example, as these theories are based on a traditional dyadic model of interaction involving a specific addresser and addressee. I describe the speech event from the perspective of Speech Act Theory and show how the existence of the locution, illocution, and perlocution of an utterance in certain social contexts becomes unclear. In ritualized speech events, non-verbal elements of communication are more important than linguistic meaning. Linguistic meaning is downgraded in terms of value, in that what is said and the words of the utterance are less important than the fact that they have been uttered and the manner in which they have been delivered. I call this kind of language ‘semantically redundant language’ and suggest that there are varying degrees of this dependent on the social context within which an utterance is performed. Thus, semantic redundancy is greater in highly formalized, ritual scenarios, and less obvious in ‘normal’ dyadic interaction.