The Kuna Indians of Panama, probably best known for molas, their colorful applique blouses, also have a rich literary tradition of oral stories and performances. One of the largest indigenous groups in the South American tropics, the majority of them (about 70,000) reside in Kuna Yala, a string of island and mainland villages stretching along the Caribbean coast. It is here that Joel Sherzer lived among them, photographing and recording their verbal performances, which he feels are representative of the beauty, complexity, and diversity of the oral literary traditions of the indigenous...
The Kuna Indians of Panama, probably best known for molas, their colorful applique blouses, also have a rich literary tradition of oral stories and...
Puns, jokes, proverbs, riddles, play languages, verbal dueling, parallelism, metaphor, grammatical stretching and manipulation in poetry and song-- people around the world enjoy these forms of speech play and verbal artistry which form an intrinsic part of the fabric of their lives. Verbal playfulness is not a frivolous pursuit. Often indicative of people's deepest values and worldview, speech play is a significant site of intersection among language, culture, society, and individual expression.
In this book, Joel Sherzer examines many kinds of speech play from places as diverse as...
Puns, jokes, proverbs, riddles, play languages, verbal dueling, parallelism, metaphor, grammatical stretching and manipulation in poetry and song--...
First published in 1974, this collection of classic case studies in the ethnography of speaking had a formative influence on the field. No other volume has so successfully provided a broad, cross-cultural survey of the use, role, and function of language and speech in everyday life. The essays deal with: traditional societies in Native North, Middle, and South America, Africa, and Oceania; English, French, and Yiddish speaking communities in Europe and North America; Afro-American communities in North America and the Caribbean. Now reissued, the collection includes a major new Introduction by...
First published in 1974, this collection of classic case studies in the ethnography of speaking had a formative influence on the field. No other volum...
