Parallelism

The concept of parallelism has been widely discussed for the languages of Eastern Indonesia (cf. Fox 1988). Such parallelism is pervasive in WP, not only in ritual discourse but also in everyday language. Parallelism provides the most common framework for compounding. There is a high degree of awareness of parallelisms, and lay writers often use a hyphen to connect the two members of a parallelism.

Synonyms

Synonyms (or near synonyms) are used to denote objects or actions. Often it is not possible to discern a difference meaning between the parallel compound form and each of the individual components of the compaund. The parallel compound is often the conventionalized way of refering to something. These pairs are highly lexicalized, and speakers are almost universally able to recite the opposite member of each pair when one is mentioned.

bunne - lokkang
haze    hail
'mist'

In some cases these are dialect synonyms. The forms sai and hobi denote 'quiver' in the Tubbe and Lamma dialects, respectively, but both dialects may use the parallel term sai-hobi.

Synonyms from other languages may also be employed, for example, from WP batta and Malay bodoh we get bodoh-batta 'stupid'.

In some parallelisms one of the terms is more specific. Thus sauke is the general term for 'lego-lego', an indigenous dance form, while yabe is a specific term referring to the part of the lego-lego performed by women, that is the women's lego-lego circle. The parallel term sauke-yabe may be used to refer to lego-lego in general.

Some parallelisms are paired due to their similar metaphoric symbolism. For example, bukke 'date tree' and billang 'dialak tree' are two kinds of thorny tree which are routinely cut back in areas occupied by people. Thus the parallel term bukke-billang refers to an uninhabited place, a place where no one has been around to cut back these trees.

Occaisionally parts of a parallel term are impossible to identify, similar to 'cranberry' morphs. For example, both deki and deki-sara refer to a 'bed', but the term sara by itself has no meaning.

Elaborations

This category of parallel terms includes those in one of the elements of the pair serves to elaborate the other member. The resulting compound has a meaning with is quite similar to the elaborated item of the pair. In these cases the parallel construction is often the more natural way of refering. For example,

yaki-para
mud  flood
'mud'

The word yaki itself already denotes 'mud' but it is more naturally to refer to 'mud' using the parallel term yaki-para. And while this latter form literally translates as 'mud flood', it is used to indicate 'mud' in general.

Metonyms

Metonyms denoting a collection of which the two items are a part.

tuttu-dammang
hearth  fire.ashes
'area around the hearth'

Repeated words

Parallel constructions occur within a frame in which a word is kept constant.

u    pinni was pinni
time hold  day hold
'set the time and date (for an event)'

ging    i-alaku  wang  bu         da'ai  meta  da'ai
3PL:AGT 4PL-two  exist areca.nut  share  betel share
'the two sides (of the marriage party) must share betel'

Discourse groupings

In connected discourse lists of items are often grouped in pairs. Consider the following excerpt from a history of the Soli dance, listing various places which the Soli was brought to. Listen to the excerpt using the Quicktime player below. The unglossed, capitalized terms in the transcript are place names, with parallel terms separated by a hyphen.

Recorded 13 Nov 2006 in Alimakke Speaker: Mr. Gerson Lau Muri.

For further information

More information about the phenomenon of parallelism can be found in Fox, James J. 1988. To Speak in Pairs: Essays on the Ritual Languages of Eastern Indonesia, ed. by James Fox (1988, Cambridge)

Last modified August 30, 2004