Prescription and variation in Rembong, Western Flores

linguistic region of Rembong, in western Flores, attracts present attention on a number of grounds. greater part of it, to the west, falls within the administrative district of Manggarai, and the eastern part falls within that of Ngada (see Map 1). area covered by the various Rembong dialects (Map 2) has long been recognized for its linguistic variety. Meerburg was told that the Manggarai spoken in Potta (Pota) and Rioem (Riung) differed from that spoken in central and western Manggarai (Meerburg 1891:465). Much later, Gonda distinguished three groups of Manggarai dialects eastern, central, and western and of the first he wrote: The Eastern in particular contains many different dialects, which diverge considerably among themselves and are more or less influenced by the neighbouring Badjawa. He acknowledged that lexical divergencies were to be found in central Manggarai also, but stated that they were of lesser extent (in Burger 1946:17). variety of the eastern dialects has had a special implication for the comparative study of modes of social classification in western Flores. In an early analysis (1966) I examined the ethnographic sources then available and arrived at the conclusion that, in the main, the Manggarai relationship terminology exhibited the structure of symmetric prescrip tive alliance. subsequent publication of Verheijen's dictionary of Manggarai (1967; 1970) permitted a new and more detailed analysis of Manggarai social classification (Needham 1980), and one that gave a more exact delineation to local variations. A major determination was that there were two main forms of classification to be distinguished: these were those prevailing in central Manggarai and in western Mang garai, and the terminologies differed from each other not only lexically but also structurally. It emerged that the consolidated form on which the initial analysis of Manggarai society had been based was more nearly in

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• In memoriam Jilis A.J. Verheijen SVD (26 March 1908-25 April 1997); A collector’s life

  Open Access•Marie-Antoinette Willemsen•Bijdragen tot de taal- land- en…•1998

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