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Language, Identity, and the Production of Authority in New Discursive Contexts in ,

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Elizabeth KEATING *

Many ships came to Ponape. 1 Many were the foreigners who settled on Ponape, and foreign things also became numerous, the kinds of animals and the kinds of plants, both large and small plants which could grow on Ponape. Moreover white people and black people—all kinds, as well as certain kinds of sickness, etc., also became numerous. And certain different kinds of enlightenment 2 also became well established in Ponape (Bernart, 1977 : Chapter 61, The Story of the Third Period).

Increasing contact between Pohnpeian and origin 4. This paper discusses some aspects of Western languages and cultures has taken place language borrowing and language influence in in the last 150 years 3. Although linguists often Pohnpei. Using language excerpts from several on loan « words » into Pacific and other contexts, I discuss how new ideas that stem from languages, there are other more significant cultural contact are incorporated and interpre- « loans » cross culturally, that is, in new contexts ted within local ideals, and mediated through for language production. Borrowed language existing language structures. Elements of bor- events or contexts can contribute new meanings rowing are reflected in the following communi- and new authority to utterances, as well as new cative practices : writing, the organization of participant roles for speaking. The Pohnpeian temporal and spatial relations, the production of lexicon evidences loan words from four recent knowledge, naming practices, and communica- colonial groups : Spanish, German, Japanese, tive aspects of the body. Some ‘borrowed’ lan- and American. Before that, voyages of other guage terms (a result of Pohnpei’s transnational Pacific Islanders often brought new influences. connections) lend themselves to rhetorical pola- Linguistic evidence, for example, suggests that rities in oratory and in everyday speech that Western Polynesians, among them Samoans, create differences between local and foreign voyaged to Pohnpei, and this contact played a practices and values, including tradition and role in shaping Pohnpeian culture (Rehg ms). A modernity, morality and immorality. Borrowed Pohnpeian term for food or served before a discourse terms and contexts also create new formal meal or kava ceremony, ahmwadang has, social categories and enlarge the verbal reper- according to Geraghty (1994 : 244) a Samoan toire of certain groups. In Pohnpei this is reflec-

* University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A. I gratefully acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (grant #9120466) and the International Institute for Education (Fulbright) for the field research upon which this article is based. I also thank the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics for two additional field research opportunities. Without the cooperation and generosity of the people of Pohnpei this work would not have been possible, and I sincerely thank them. 1. Ponape is an earlier spelling of Pohnpei. 2. Protestant and Catholic systems of thought. 3. This summary of Pohnpeian history is indebted to the work of David Hanlon (1988) and Francis Hezel (1983). 4. The Samoan term is ‘amataga ‘beginning.’

Journal de la Société des Océanistes, 112, année 2001-1. 74 MICRONÉSIE PLURIELLE ted in some changes in the way some members of 19th century. Spanish, Germans, Japanese, and society are viewed and in how new forms of Americans all made efforts to colonize Poh- symbolic behavior are mediated through dis- npei. 6 course. Missionaries have been highly influential in I first discuss some of the changes in the com- the Pacific as elsewhere in promoting the adop- municative landscape and then focus on how tion of certain European ideas and practices. local and imported ideas are mediated through One of these practices concerns the organization language in youth oratory and in informal, eve- of time. Although the Pohnpeians did not uni- ryday conversations between women. In orato- formly borrow European words for marking ries recorded in 1993 in Pohnpei, Pohnpeian units of time, under the influence of Christian youth discuss both indigenous and Western missionaries the local concepts of how to cate- influences, including the authority of the written gorize cyclical changes were expanded. The idea word, formalized schooling, wage work, colonial of a seven-day week was imposed with the intro- government, marriage, and ideas about indivi- dual agency and the future. The idea of youth duction of Sunday worship practices. When mis- formally addressing a gathering is not an indige- sionaries instituted the practice of Sunday mee- nous idea, but the young people frame their tings, Pohnpeian names for the seven days of the remarks within indigenous practices, formulaic weekly cycle were developed. However, these speech acts whereby they request permission of were based not on Spanish, English, or German, the chiefs, God, and indigenous deities to speak. but on the indigenous counting system with Thus locally authorized, they measure a span of ‘one’ being Monday and ‘five’ being Friday. Poh- implications from global to national to local. In npeian days are now named : niehd, niare, niesil, everyday conversations recorded among women, niepeng, nialem (‘at.one’, ‘at.two’, etc), rahn kau- the women use borrowed language terms in a nop (‘day of.preparation’ Saturday), and rahn complex process of reiterating traditional values sarawi (‘day sacred’ Sunday). Pohnpeians coun- within modern frameworks. ted nights not days (Bernart, 1977 : 103). Poh- npeians traditionally divided the year into seasons, the season of plenty and the season of Background scarcity, and also divided the year by stars : The first contact between the inhabitants of « There were twelve stars, which we used to the island of Pohnpei 5 and non-Pacific, Western count from the beginning of the year to the end European culture is believed to have occurred of the harvest season. It is said that this count circa 1595 when a Spanish ship arrived (Hanlon, began at the time the Erythrina tree came into 1988 : 28). The ship was part of an expedition, a blossom. Now when the flowers opened up and ‘‘conquista espiritual,’’ to bring Christianity to were beautiful they gave the time the name of the ‘‘savages’’ (Hezel, 1983 : 33-4 ; Hanlon, Period of Erythrina [trade wind season, winter]; 1988 : 27). The Pohnpeians’ response to the and when the blooms fell down and were finished Europeans was similar : a written Pohnpeian and the seeds started growing, the name of that account, by native historian Luelen Bernart des- time was changed to Period of Growth. This was cribes the moral depravity of the Europeans the time of harvest [...] Some of these stars make (Bernart, 1977 : 104, translated by Fischer, Rei- good times, while others make bad times—rain senberg, and Whiting). The Pohnpeians called and big winds from the west...Now these twelve the Spanish eni en pohn madau ‘ghosts of the stars are the great stars which constitute the stars open ocean’. The word eni or ‘ghost’ referred not of the breadfruit season » (Bernart, 1977 : 97). to the divine qualities of the foreigners but to their alien, and potentially malevolent nature The concept of dividing the year into months (Hanlon, 1988 : 26). After almost three hundred was borrowed with the names for the months. years of no (known) contact, Protestant missio- The Western day is organized around ‘hour’ and naries, from the U.S., and American whaling ‘minute’ segments, and Pohnpeians imported crews began to come more regularly in the late these terms into their vocabulary.

5. A full portrayal of Pohnpeian society is beyond the scope of this paper. For a more complete description the reader is referred to Bascom, 1965 ; Reisenberg, 1968 ; Petersen, 1982 ; Shimizu, 1982, 1987 ; Hanlon, 1988 ; Falgout, 1984 ; Mauricio, 1993 ; Kihleng, 1996 ; Pinsker, 1997 ; Keating, 1998. 6. The first attempts, by the Spanish and German governments in Pohnpei met with strong resistance from the Pohnpeians. Spanish and German governors were assassinated. LANGUAGE, IDENTITY AND THE PRODUCTION OF AUTHORITY IN POHNPEI 75

Personal names are another way language tions of Pohnpeian oral narratives (Bernart, represents new practices adopted through 1977), the influence of the Bible on indigenous contact with missionaries. The practice of written genres is evident. A chapter and verse ‘given’ or ‘first’ names, and the practice of sur- organization, similar to that in the Bible is used. names (see Rodríquez-Ponga, 1997) give each Some Biblical narratives are incorporated into Pohnpeian a unique identity from birth to death, Bernart’s history, for example, « The Story of contrasting with the traditional way that Poh- the Romans » (Bernhart, 1977 : 174). Bernart’s npeian identities (in the title system) change over book also lists all of the titles of Jesus Christ. time e.g. with age, marriage, and other events In Pohnpeian terms, having knowledge which result in the acquisition of new titles. The increases an individual’s manaman or power, introduced surname practice was based on patri- while the transmission of knowledge decreases liny, whereas matrilineal clan identification is power (Falgout, 1984 ; Petersen, 1993). The central in traditional title-based identity. The phrase pirakih me i pwapwa (‘what I am saying is production of gendered identities was influenced by new aspects of gendered body covering. twisted’) begins Bernart’s history, a conventio- According to Bernart (1977), Pohnpeian men at nal strategy of intentionally altering parts of an first were resistant to Western clothing practices, account in order to thwart listeners’ attempts to but the influential, Protestant-trained Poh- obtain and share a speaker’s knowledge, i.e. to npeian Henry Nanpei « started the Ponapeans limit manaman transfer or power sharing. This is wearing trousers, shoes, jackets, hats, and the a very different concept of authority and like, for formerly they used to be ashamed to be knowledge than that represented in Western his- in trousers » (Bernart, 1977 : 125). Women were torical narratives as well as in Christian narrati- taught that their breasts should be covered, and ves. Evangelism and spreading the ‘good news’ that only certain clothing was appropriate for or knowledge of Christianity is a major project. Sunday religious observances. At the time of the Space and spatial relationships have also been first Spanish arrival, islanders had extensively affected by contact with colonizing peoples. For tattooed their bodies; such a practice symbolized example, the site of the original Spanish fort has adulthood, and was a way of keeping track of developed into the town of , organized genealogies, and recording historical events according to Western principles of urban space. (Hanlon, 1988 : 41), as well as a way to increase Pohnpeians traditionally do not organize their sexual attractiveness (Moral, 1998). The Poh- residence patterns into villages or towns, but live npeian body prior to missionization was quite on farms or plantations. Both the Spanish and literally a text. As a result of missionization, the Germans significantly altered relationships tattooing ceased. The word for tattooing (nting) between individuals and land by changing land continued to be used for writing. Writing and the inheritance practices. In an influential decision, interpretation of written symbols were not new the transfer of a large tract of land to a single- to Pohnpeians (see, for example, Rainbird, owner, a non-chiefly Pohnpeian, for example, 2000). was upheld by a document of the Spanish 7.New An essential part of Pacific Islander contact deities and mediators and mediating practices with Western cultures includes the introduction between these deities and the people have been of Western literacy practices and culturally spe- incorporated into Pohnpeian cultural and lan- cific practices about learning and knowledge. guage practices since Western contact, including Western books organize and conceive of new worship practices. Differences in the nature knowledge production and dissemination in par- of knowledge and the dissemination of informa- ticular ways. As Duranti and Ochs note for tion and expertise between Pohnpei and the West : « when a Samoan child is first exposed were and still are significant. Notions of indivi- to literacy instruction he or she is taught some- dual agency and responsibility vary greatly thing more than the alphabet [...] literacy is between indigenous philosophical traditions accompanied by an attention to a world of and Western religious philosophy. objects and values that either are removed from I became interested in youth oratory in Poh- the immediate context of the child’s everyday life npei as a new context for producing and contes- or suggest Western alternatives within a range of ting what it means to be Pohnpeian in a post- possible choices that would include more tradi- colonial world. Both traditional and European tional objects and values » (Duranti and Ochs, ideas of building authority are part of this pro- 1988 : 189). In one of the only written compila- cess.

7. In 1896 the Spanish Governor Pidal recognized Henry Nanpei’s land claims, which were based on a document signed by his father Nanku on May 27, 1863 (Hambruch I, 1932 : 287-8, see also Ehrlich, 1978). 76 MICRONÉSIE PLURIELLE

Youth oratory 02 ih kitail me pahn (?) de tiahk sang ni atail pahn ale kasukuhl en tiahk The young people’s speeches I recorded in we are the ones who will [?unintelligible]... cus- 1993 represent a borrowed discourse context toms from those of us who will youth oratory. In the speeches, language is used 03 sang me semen kan de atail pahpa oh nohno to incorporate as well as to differentiate indige- be schooled in customs from the forefathers or our father and mother nous ideas and practices (tiahk) in interesting ways. The specific speeches I discuss were given In another youth’s speech, Catholic priests are in the Catholic Church by members of the called by the Pohnpeian term soumwaroh (‘high island-wide Catholic youth group or pwihn pwi- priest’), by the Spanish loan pahdire, and by the lopwil. In Excerpt 1, for example, two sides English loanword diken (deacon). (pelien,frompali ‘side’) are created, the side of The youth group organizes their speeches tiahk (indigenous customs) and the side of around a literate secular authority, the dictio- ‘government’ (pelien sapwellimatail tiahk versus nary.The event was framed around each orator’s pelien atail goverment). The government referred choice of a particular ‘word’ as a topic for his or to is the colonial import, i.e. the democratic-style her speech, for example, fear, homesickness, hap- of government instituted by the American admi- piness, love. The speaker in Excerpt 3, line 2 nistration (1947-1983). refers to the concept of the dictionary (using the (1) English loan word) as an authoritative site for understanding to emerge. These young orators 01 wahuniki lapalap koaros en pelien sapwellimatail tiahk, have taken on explication and translation as Honor all the important people on the side of our their project, and have foregrounded a Western [high status] traditions source organized on Western principles (the dic- 02 oh wahuniki lapalap koaros en pelien atail gover- tionary) as their authority, even though their ment speeches are in Pohnpeian. and honor all the important people on the side of (3) our government (note : words in italics show specific examples referred 01 nan sapwellimatail pwuken kawewe kan to in the text) in our [high status] book which explains 02 de koasoi dictionary ni e kawewe lepin mahsen A feature of the is used wet ff also called a dictionary where it explains these heretocreateadierence in status between words the traditional and the imported (see Keating, 1998 for a discussion of this feature). A status- A dictionary is of course a reference book raising term, sapwellimatail, is used for ‘our’ containing alphabetically arranged words, with in the phrase ‘our customs’ (i.e. ‘our [high codified authoritative information about mea- status] tiahk’) whereas the ‘our’ in the phrase nings and use. A dictionary is also a book that ‘our government’ is not marked for status, interprets meanings from one language system resulting in lower status by with to another. This latter type of dictionary is one the high-status-marked term for indigenous which missionaries were initially most concerned customs. with producing. How one finds the meaning of Several other speeches set up this same duality words and understanding in a language dictio- between tiahk en Pohnpei (‘customs of Pohnpei’) nary is a process of translating systems of repre- and tiahk en wai (‘customs of the foreigners’), sentation, for example Pohnpeian to Spanish or although at times the two ideas are brought German to Pohnpeian. The codified knowledge together, as in the phrase used by one orator of the West contained in books does not ordina- kasukuhl in tiahk (‘Western-style schooling in rily frame itself as partial and to interpre- [Pohnpeian] customs’), which combines impor- tation (except to postmodernists and those criti- ted and indigenous contexts and concepts quing science) as does the field of Pohnpeian (Excerpt 2, line 2) suggesting new knowledge knowledge. Organizing an event of oratory dissemination procedures for indigenous practi- around a dictionary indexes literary practices ces. and skills and frames the orators’ authority in (2) particular ways. 01 rahnwet me pwulopwul tohto kin iang pwukoa Throughout the speeches both Western and nan pelien tiahk, indigenous authority structures are used today is the day that many youth take on respon- together and alternately in interesting ways. sibilities on the side of custom, Speakers ‘beg permission of the chief’ to speak LANGUAGE, IDENTITY AND THE PRODUCTION OF AUTHORITY IN POHNPEI 77

(sakaradan, line 2), and keipweni, or lower them- as well as the indigenous value of clan or chie- selves in the presence spirits or humans serving fdom identity over national identity. One spea- as intermediaries between the people and the ker poses a question to the pwihn pwulopwul en spirits (Mauricio, 1993 : 147) (line 3). Included wehin Pohnpei (‘the young people of the chie- in this group of spirits is the Christian God, the fdom of Pohnpei’). Another young orator talks paramount chieftess, and the high priests, a mix about anahnen me pwolopwul rahnwet nan wehin of indigenous and borrowed mediators between Pohnpei, the ‘needs of the youth in Pohnpei the human and the divine. today,’ as if all the youth share common expe- riences apart from other members of the society. (4) These speeches are particularly concerned with 01 mwohn i pahn patohwen doula i pahn patohwen doula defining the experience of « youth » as a uniform before I go on [low status], I go on [low status] class of people in Pohnpei, using language, a 02 i pahn wia tungoal sakaradan crucial tool in the social construction of I will make my [low status] request to speak, knowledge and experience. A model of a shared 03 keipweni pahn kupwuren samatail Koht wahuniki status as youth or as « the younger generation » erekisohn with a common future is suggested by these spea- and lower myself under the heart/authority of kers, particularly when they discuss such pro- our father God. I honor the body/people of blems as drinking alcohol, crashing cars, and not 04 Pohnpeieu sapwellimahr likend koa, oh soum- finishing school as signs of the morality of the wourou koa society as a whole. One orator calls for the youth Pohnpei, our chieftesses and high priests group to « dream » and the reference is not to nighttime consciousness, but to planning and Youth orators situate their speech under the envisioning the future, including a notion of authority of the paramount chief, secondary one’s agency and power to transform the future. chief, paramount chieftess, the head of the ‘Vocation’ is a term used, which indicates choices parish, and the president of the youth group. We beyond the traditional repertoire of roles. This can see the role of language in indexing indige- power is not invested solely in youth, however, nous versus non-indigenous authorities. The lea- but also in the more traditional power of spirits der of the parish is termed kaun en mwohmwo- or in God’s word within the ‘holy book’ (the diso, a phrase with all Pohnpeian words, Bible) which is, as one speaker states, a guide for incorporating the morpheme iso, which refers to young people. One of the important choices the paramount chief. The youth group leader, in about the future is contained in the Bible accor- contrast, is described with a Latinate term, bor- ding to these young Pohnpeians; it is the choice rowed from English, ‘president’. A sharp distinc- between the « wide road to hell » and the « nar- tion is made juxtaposing indigenous and bor- row road to heaven ». These two destinations are rowed terms, secular and sacred, and pre-contact organized by the orators as el (hell) using the and post-contact practices or customs. foreign loan word and nanleng (heaven) using the (5) indigenous term. 01 isonahnken kan, likend kan, kaun en mwomwo- (6) diso wet, 01 Madeu de sapwellimen Madeu pwuhk irelaud the secondary chiefs, paramount chieftesses, the isuh leader of the parish, Matthew or Matthew’s [high status] book, chap- 02 president en pwihn pwulopul, kumwail pwihn ter seven, pwulopwul kan 02 iretikitik eisek siluh e kaweid kin kitail ahl en the president of the youth group, all you youth kohlang verse thirteen advises us which road to follow [...] The entire discursive context of youth oratory 03 eri iaduwen emenemen kitail me pwulopwulen itself is situated within Western ideas of youth as Pohnpei rahnwet a category with rights, privileges, expectations, and how each one of us who are the youth of and the capacity for revolutionary change. The Pohnpei today idea of young people giving speeches to a gathe- 04 ia atail pelipel ahl tehlap de ahl tehtikitik ring of the whole community, and the very should make our choice, the wide road or the concept of an island-wide youth group or pwihn narrow road pwilopwil collapses traditional notions of orga- nization by clan or chiefdom and the prevalent Indigenous ideas of the afterlife include the Pacific age-graded seniority where older sisters idea that the dead reside below the sea. To get and brothers have authority over younger ones, there, they cross a bridge at Wasahn Sohpor, the 78 MICRONÉSIE PLURIELLE

‘Place of No Return’ (Hanlon, 1988 : 104). does not conceal the outline of the thighs and Those who sing with a good voice (a metaphor underwear (sarmada is a Japanese loan word for for a dutiful life) successfully cross the bridge; a type of undergarment). In Excerpt 9 several those who sing poorly fall off the « twisting » women share in creating Pohnpeian values bridge (Mauricio, 1993) into a pit called Pweliko. through judgments about imported materials To some young orators, traditional knowledge used in local dress. rather than Western knowledge is valued (see Example 7), and tiahk (custom) is defined as the (9) foundation of a Pohnpeian identity and a high 01 eri mwahu men re aramas kileng weite dahngem- status life. wen you think it’s good if people can see your thighs ? (7) 02 dah ke kin koasongosongih ohlakan 01 tiahk pahn wia poasoned en sapwellimatail ieias. what are you doing always enticing men ? Pohnpeian customs are the foundation of our 03 dah songen lidep [high status] lives. what kind of woman is that (who has already has a child) [...]. Borrowed language terms lend themselves to 04 iapw sohte mwahuki. urohs me udahn menipinip rhetorical polarities in the borrowed context of me aramas kileng weite kilang youth oratory in the Catholic Church, indicating I don’t like it. That kind of skirt is really thin so important differences in values between local that people can see through it, can see and foreign practice. However, the meanings of 05 ah sarmada tengie. Kilang wanded borrowed terms, concepts, and contexts are where her underwear goes. That looks like a constantly negotiated in Pohnpeian society in « wanted » woman everyday interactions as well as in these public speeches. The interactants in the following A woman is labeled ‘‘wanted’’ by the speaker excerpts from everyday conversation also nego- in Excerpt 9, line 5. ‘Wanted’ is an interesting tiate understandings of the meanings of impor- loan word from English. It apparently was bor- ted Western ideas, in this case negotiating new rowed by Pohnpeian women from the ‘‘Wanted’’ models of women’s behavior and new bodily posters common in United States post offices, presentations. Several imported American posters that are now familiar to Pohnpeians, who English words are used in this process, including have one post office managed by the U.S. Postal the word « style ». In Excerpt 8, the narrator Service as a remnant from U.S. Trust Territory describes how M, a woman who already has a days. ‘‘Wanted’’ posters have a picture of and child of her own, is habitually enacting the information about a criminal who has escaped. « style » of a small girl (kisin serepein)bywea- This term is now applied to Pohnpeian women ring shorts rather than a skirt. Shorts are typical who are sexually promiscuous. The term plays of American hot weather wear, but are particu- on the double meaning of ‘‘wanted,’’ sexual desi- larly immodest for women in Pohnpei because rability and transgression. The figure of Satan is they reveal the thigh area. The appropriate dress also a resource for shaping interpretations of for women in Pohnpei is clothing which conceals behavior. He not only tempts women but takes the natural shape of the erotic parts of her body, on the appearance of a Pohnpeian woman. the area between the waist and the knee (little (10) girls can wear shorts, literally ‘small trousers,’ 01 W : ih indang J [name] kilang sedane me however). I told J [name] look at the Satan there (8) 02 L : ke ese sohte mehkot mwahu 01 e kin wiala style duwete kisin serepein a udahn you know there’s something there that’s she habitually comports herself in a style just like not good a little girl. Really, 03 pwakiala sang me, pwe kakadongadong 02 soahng me sehten kisin rausis [...] chase her away from here because she with the same kind of shirt and shorts makes herself abhorrent 03 M [name] ah likouo tangete nan kahuen udahn kin style The use of the English words ‘wanted’ and M’s [name] clothes run up her buttocks. That’s ‘Satan’ indicates a certain foreignness and really stylish [sarcastic voice]. ‘other-ness’ and also draws on symbols from both religious domains and the authority of the Choosing imported « see through » fabric state. The use of Satan suggests not only power, (menipinip me aramas kileng weite ‘thin that peo- but also the personification of a foreign, socially ple can see into’) can also be problematic, as it disruptive force, and foreign ideas. Later in the LANGUAGE, IDENTITY AND THE PRODUCTION OF AUTHORITY IN POHNPEI 79 conversation one of the women reports that her can enlarge the verbal repertoire of certain husband has warned her that she will be cursed groups and create new spaces for contestation. (riahla) for « criticizing others » for their impro- In Pohnpei this is reflected in some changes in per « style ». Riahla predates Satan and the the way some members of society are viewed and Wanted posters, and is also used as a comple- how access to new styles and arenas of commu- mentary authoritative force to control behavior nication is acquired. Elements of borrowing are as well as contest authority. reflected not only in single words but in writing The woman in Example 11 reports on her own practice, the organization of temporal and spa- ff e orts to change and to incorporate outsider tial relations, productions of knowledge, com- ideas about the body through the adoption of municative aspects of the body, identity and Western-style dress. She relates to her friend and concepts of a moral person. As with lexical bor- me in this conversation that her son told her if rowings, the meanings of these new relations she wears shorts he will quit school from shame. both shape new contexts and are shaped by the (11) local ecologies of practice in which they emerge. 01 K [S’s son] kahng ien iang wia songen. I kin men K forbids my doing (joining) that kind of thing. I always wanted to REFERENCES 02 iang wia songko K kapweiekala dress like that (wear shorts) but K doesn’t want B, William R., 1965. Ponape: a Pacific Economy me to in Transition, Berkeley, University of California 03 pweki mweliki pwe kilang ehu rahno lepin rausis Press, Anthropological Records, vol 22. because it would make him sad. One day we saw B, Luelen, 1977. The Book of Luelen, Can- some shorts and berra, Australian National University Press/ 04 i inda ai pahn pwainda ai lepen rausis e kahng Honolulu, University of Press, Pacific kalakalekete History Series 8, translated and edited by John L. I said I’m going to buy some shorts for myself and Fischer, Saul H. Riesenberg, and Marjorie G. Whi- he forbade me to do it, ting. he said, don’t you dare D, Alessandro and Elinor O, 1988. Lite- 05 ke dehr pah lepin rausis kohla ihmwen skulo.Ke racy Instruction in a Samoan Village, in Elinor Ochs pahn kareda i sohla iang skul (ed.), Culture and Language Development: Lan- don’t wear shorts and go to my school or you will guage Acquisition and Language Socialization in a make me quit school Samoan Village, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp.189-209. The meanings of new cultural practices and  concepts ‘borrowed’ from the West are shaped E , Paul, 1978. Henry Nanpei: Pre-eminently a and reshaped through everyday language use. Pohnpeian, in Deryck Scarr (ed.), More Pacific Young people are agents for change as well as Islands Portraits, Canberra, Australian National University Press. agents for reproducing traditional symbolic forms within a contemporary context. 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Mots-clefs / Keywords

Pohnpei, emprunt linguistique, discours, rhétorique, autorité. Pohnpei, linguistic borrowing, discourse, rhetoric, authority.