Flows of words and flows of blessing

The poetics of invocatory speech among the Sa'dan Toraja

Bibliographic Data

ID2864596
AuthorsRoxana Waterson (1. [email protected], corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume168
Issue4
Pages391-419
Publication date2012-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBijdragen tot de taal- land- en volkenkunde / Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0006-2294 • E-ISSN: 2213-4379
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1163/22134379-90003550
OpenAlexW2094893748
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited13

The human propensity to address the unseen is a profound anthropological and linguistic puzzle. Ethnographers of 'prayer' in Southeast Asia have proposed that invocations are opposed as a form of utterance to other genres such as narration. This paper challenges that assumption with the analysis of some Toraja examples having a more declarative and instrumental quality. It also expands on Schefold's observations (2001) about 'flows of blessing' as a characteristically Austronesian concept. Above all, the intensely poetic qualities of Toraja invocations suggest the possibility of a deeper link between prayer and poetry, as linguistic genres intended to move the hearer

Blessing · Poetics · Prayer · Utterance · Asian Studies and History · Multilingual Education and Policy · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies

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