From Grammar to Politics: Linguistic Anthropology in Westernsamoa Village

by Alessandro Duranti

Book Overview

Alessandro Duranti explores the way traditional oratory in a Samoan village is shaped by the needs of the political process and shows how language insulates ceremonial speakers from the perils of everyday confrontation. He proposes a "moral flow hypothesis" in discourse, to describe a grammar that distributes praise and blame and in that way defines the standing of individuals in the community. This ethnographic journey from linguistic to political...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520083857
• ISBN13: 9780520083851
• Release Date: August 1994
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"