Palu'e Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This article presents a phonological description of the Palu'e language variants and reflects on the problems of representing the language in writing. Verifiable lexical and phonological data are made available and an orthography is... more

This article presents a phonological description of the Palu'e language variants and reflects on the problems of representing the language in writing. Verifiable lexical and phonological data are made available and an orthography is introduced. Data and analysis is drawn from a comprehensive documentation, and specific recordings of three speakers/language variants reading the same wordlist, available in an online audio collection. The phonetically transcribed recording of one speaker is compared with the other two and the corpus-based phonological description, and provided in an annotated appendix. The annotated recordings support the estimate of >99% lexical congruence and mutual intelligibility between variants. From a multi-variant perspective several phonemes are in free variation with each other. /tʃ/ does not occur mid-word/second syllable in the interior variants that use the initial PMP *c instead of the coastal /s/, but is in complementary distribution with mid-word /dʒ/. /s/ is neither in complementary distribution with /tʃ/ nor /dʒ/ in the coastal variants. Several Palu'e variants exhibit sufficient specific features to be referred to as dialects, including two of the recorded samples, whereas the speech patterns of the phonetically transcribed speaker make sense from the perspective of the surrounding variants.

A dichotomy between coordinate and subordinate clauses underlies most discussion of complex sentences. A coordinate structure sees two clauses joined without any dependency relationship between them, while in a subordinate structure one... more

A dichotomy between coordinate and subordinate clauses underlies most discussion of complex sentences. A coordinate structure sees two clauses joined without any dependency relationship between them, while in a subordinate structure one of the clauses is dependent on the other. Textually, it is generally the case that foregrounded material is presented as a string of coordinate clauses, while excursions to the main storyline, backgrounded material, typically involve higher numbers of subordinate clauses. Without affecting the coordinate/subordinate grammatical structures, many languages employ subordinate structures in their foregrounded narrative materials; similarly, we occasionally find examples of coordinate constructions used in subordinate, backgrounded functions. This paper explores this mis-match of grammatical form and discourse function, drawing on data from languages of the Indonesia region, and explores the ambiguity in structure that we must deal with when the grammatical marking is non-overt, or optional. The variable discourse functions of subordinately-coded clauses, combined with the (at times) ambiguous coding of such clauses, can often lead to reanalysis of morphology from subordinate to main clause uses, as has been hypothesised to have occurred in the history of Austronesian languages.

This article discusses the basket inventory of the Palu’e (Palu’e Island, eastern Indonesia) in the comparative framework of the Flores linguistic-cultural chain. Fibers, technique, and usage are identified, with notes on current... more

This article discusses the basket inventory of the Palu’e (Palu’e Island, eastern Indonesia) in the comparative framework
of the Flores linguistic-cultural chain. Fibers, technique, and usage are identified, with notes on current distribution
and skill transmission. The basketry is made of lontar leaves by women, who are also responsible for the
agricultural products that the baskets are mainly used for. The most common function and shared denominator of
smaller basket types in the Palu’e-Flores cultures, shown with the aid of museum collection items, is to keep betel
for chewing, highlighting its tremendous cultural importance. Decoration is limited to triangular curls/twists on mad
weave (dense triaxial) works, while smoking adds color and makes the basketry more durable. Only the ceremonial
head-strapped betel basket, common also on Flores, is decorated with supplementary objects, such as beads. This
basket only is made with one of the other two main techniques, oblique checker work and twill. All the basketry,
with few exceptions, is still in wide use, but makers of more intricate works tend to be elderly. Comparison with
baskets on the main island of Flores shows that Palu’e basketry is a close affine to this tradition but with locally distinctive
features. Future comparative research could consider geographic and linguistic proximity in cultural contacts
as a significant element in skill transmission, which is otherwise vertical (via closest kin), and relationships with migration
patterns to and from Flores.

This paper provides a comprehensive documentation of customary Palu’e ikat textiles and investigates the extent to which the design nomenclature and local interpretations constitute an iconography. A multivalent approach is used, starting... more

This paper provides a comprehensive documentation of customary Palu’e ikat textiles and investigates the extent to which the design nomenclature and local interpretations constitute an iconography. A multivalent approach is used, starting from linguistic-ethnographic fieldwork and engaging critically with scholarly ikat research and the anthropological methods often applied in studies of traditional textiles, including the underlying assumptions about meaning, symbolism, and mythology. The Palu’e design nomenclature is not embedded in the recorded oral literature, or vice versa. Rather than being repositories for mythology, the cloths signify transmissibility; the act of transmitting them, along with the required craftsmanship skills, from generation to generation assigns them meaning and sacrality. This accounts for the discrepancy observed with compartmentalized or linguistically-inclined inquiries. For weavers, the nomenclature serves as a mnemonic device for memorizing designs, and enables discourse about them.