Variation in the bird-name lexicon in Qaqet (East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea)

Bibliographic Data

ID22030342
AuthorsHenrike Frye (University of Cologne), Aung Si (0000-0001-8115-9176, University of Cologne)
Year2023
Volume9
Issue2
Pages239-264
Publication date2023-12-31
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAsia-Pacific Language Variation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2215-1354 • E-ISSN: 2215-1362
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/aplv.00018.fry
OpenAlexW4390752812
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited26

Birds are of great cultural importance to the Qaqet-Baining people of East New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea. In this paper, we investigate whether there are differences in people’s ability to name common birds in the local environment, and focus primarily on the variables gender and location. We showed pictures of local birds to small groups of Qaqet speakers in two villages—one located in an area of significant deforestation—and asked them to name them. Overall, men were able to name more birds, as were people from the village associated with greater forest cover. Our results show that gender, environmental degradation and shift to the local lingua franca Tok Pisin may all be responsible for the variation in Qaqet people’s ethno-ornithological lexicon

Biology · Ethnology · Geography · Lexicon · Linguistics · New guinea · Ornithology · Categorization, perception, and language · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation · Ecology

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