DOCSLIB.ORG

Language Use and Attitudes As Indicators of Subjective Vitality: the Iban of Sarawak, Malaysia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Language Use and Attitudes As Indicators of Subjective Vitality: the Iban of Sarawak, Malaysia Vol. 15 (2021), pp. 190–218 http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24973 Revised Version Received: 1 Dec 2020 Language use and attitudes as indicators of subjective vitality: The Iban of Sarawak, Malaysia Su-Hie Ting Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Andyson Tinggang Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Lilly Metom Universiti Teknologi of MARA The study examined the subjective ethnolinguistic vitality of an Iban community in Sarawak, Malaysia based on their language use and attitudes. A survey of 200 respondents in the Song district was conducted. To determine the objective eth- nolinguistic vitality, a structural analysis was performed on their sociolinguistic backgrounds. The results show the Iban language dominates in family, friend- ship, transactions, religious, employment, and education domains. The language use patterns show functional differentiation into the Iban language as the “low language” and Malay as the “high language”. The respondents have positive at- titudes towards the Iban language. The dimensions of language attitudes that are strongly positive are use of the Iban language, Iban identity, and intergenera- tional transmission of the Iban language. The marginally positive dimensions are instrumental use of the Iban language, social status of Iban speakers, and prestige value of the Iban language. Inferential statistical tests show that language atti- tudes are influenced by education level. However, language attitudes and useof the Iban language are not significantly correlated. By viewing language use and attitudes from the perspective of ethnolinguistic vitality, this study has revealed that a numerically dominant group assumed to be safe from language shift has only medium vitality, based on both objective and subjective evaluation. 1. Introduction Research on language shift has focused on the receding language to describe the domains taken over by replacing languages. Many studies are under- pinned by Fishman’s (1972) domain theory on language use. In Malaysia, for exam- ple, studies have shown the displacement of indigenous and Chinese languages by dominant languages, notably standard languages taught in school.1 One such group 1English and the Malay language are taught in all Malaysian schools from the first year of primary ed- ucation. The institutional support for Malay as the national and the official language of Malaysia and the medium of instruction endangers the vitality of indigenous languages because the school language be- comes the home language for a portion of the community. In Malaysia, children enter primary school when they are seven years old (primary one), and primary education is from primary one to primary six. After six years of primary education, they have five years of secondary education. Students enter secondary Licensed under Creative Commons E-ISSN 1934-5275 Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Language use and attitudes as indicators of subjective vitality: The Iban of Sarawak, Malaysia 191 is the Bidayuh who make up 7.81 percent of the Sarawak population of 2,789,000 (DOSM 2017a). Sarawak is a Malaysian state located on the Borneo Kalimantan Island, and it is the ancestral home of the Bidayuh, Iban, and several other Indige- nous groups such as the Kayan, Kejaman, and Sihan. Many urban Bidayuh dwellers in mixed marriages have adopted Sarawak Malay Dialect for family communication (Coluzzi, Riget, & Wang 2013; Dealwis 2008; David & Dealwis 2009; Norahim 2010; Ting & Mahadhir 2009). Language shift has also been found among the Kayan (Wan, Renganathan, & Bromeley 2015; Wan, Renganathan, & Ting 2014), Kejaman (Joan & Ting 2016, 2017), and the Sihan (Mohamed & Hashim 2012). By contrast, the Iban language is still in vigorous use among the Iban community, and it is also spoken by some people who are not Iban for buying-and-selling interac- tions in markets (Ting & Ling 2012). Coluzzi’s (2010) study showed that Iban has a strong linguistic vitality in Temburong, Brunei (a country adjacent to Sarawak on the Borneo Kalimantan Island) due to endogamy, close-knit social networks, demo- graphic strength, and support from associations and official institutions in Sarawak (e.g., radio programmes). The use of Iban by other ethnic groups, though limited, is probably because the Iban group is the largest ethnic group in Sarawak, accounting for 28.60% of the state population (DOSM 2017a), and the Iban people are spread throughout the state (Appendix 1). The Iban language is a Malayic language, like Sebuyau, Kendayan, Balau, Selakau, and Sarawak Malay Dialect (Adelaar 2004). Malayic languages are a sub-branch of Sunda-Sulawesi languages, which is a branch of Malay-Polynesian languages, in the family of Austronesian languages. Malayic languages are further divided into Ibanic languages, Malayic languages, and Urak Lawoi languages. The Iban language spoken in Sarawak, Brunei, and Kalimantan belong to the Ibanic branch which is confined to the Borneo Kalimantan Island. The Malayic and Urak Lawoi languages are said to originate from Borneo but migration brought the languages to neighbouring lands. The Malayic language was brought to Sumatra, and the Urak Lawoi languages were brought to West Malaysia. As both Iban and Sarawak Malay Dialect belong to the Malayic subgroup, the linguistic similarity makes it easier for Iban speakers to adopt Sarawak Malay Dialect for daily use. Many studies concentrate on languages of smaller groups that are being displaced because of language shift and possible language death, and investigating the language milieu can provide the empirical findings for work on language maintenance. The lan- guage use of larger ethnic groups tends to be given less attention, as the languages are perceived to be immune from language shift. The Iban are the largest ethnic group in Sarawak, giving rise to the assumption that there is language maintenance. This is why the Iban language has escaped the attention of sociolinguists interested in Indigenous languages. The available literature is mainly on the Iban culture (e.g., school at Form One level at 13 years old. Towards the end of the school year in Form Three, students sit for the Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR, Lower Secondary Assessment), a public examination held by the Ministry of Education. Students then study in Form Four and Form Five before sitting for a public examination, Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM, Malaysian Certificate of Education). The SPM results will de- termine whether they can enter the lower sixth form. At the end of the school year in the upper sixth form, the students sit for the Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM, Malaysian Higher School Certificate) examination. The STPM results are used to apply for a place in universities. Language Documentation & Conservation Vol. 15, 2021 Language use and attitudes as indicators of subjective vitality: The Iban of Sarawak, Malaysia 192 Berma 2008; Saleh 2008; Sebli 2008), and there are some conceptual papers (Philip 2017) but few empirical studies on the Iban language (Coluzzi 2010; Cullip 2000; Mohamed 1991; Ting 2010, 2012; Ting & Ling 2012). The Remun language (an Iban dialect) is still used for family communication in Kampong Remun despite fre- quent intermarriages between the Remun and the Iban people (Cullip 2000). The functional differentiation for the use of the Remun language is as follows: Remun and Sarawak Malay Dialect (for interactions with non-Remuns) function as “low lan- guages”, and the Iban language, English, and Malay (for formal interactions) function as “high languages” in the village. The Remun language is maintained because of a strong Remun identity, historical distrust of the Iban people, and the informal use of the Remun language in school (Cullip 2000). However, as time passes, the distrust towards Iban people may lessen with frequent intermarriages, creating a shift to the Iban language or other languages. Ting and Ling (2012) surveyed 568 indigeneous adolescents in six locations (rural and urban) in Sarawak, of which 323 respondents are Iban adolescents. The results showed that the Iban adolescents speak the Iban language the most (47.49%), followed by Malay and Sarawak Malay (35.04%), En- glish (15.02%), and Mandarin and Chinese dialects (2.46%). The Iban language is mainly used in the family, friendship, and religious domains and less in transactional (markets and shops) and educational domains. As for the mass media domain (radio, television, movies, online communication), Malay is the main language, followed by English, but Iban is not used. This result shows that languages with institutional sup- port may contribute to language shift of Iban. Further analysis of the same set of data on the Iban adolescents’ language use revealed that they frequently speak Malay and Sarawak Malay because a majority of them have Malay and Chinese friends (Ting 2012). These findings (Joan & Ting 2016; Ting & Ling 2012) indicate that amongthe adolescents, Iban may no longer be the language for interethnic communication; now Malay and Sarawak Malay function as the languages for interethnic communication. We argue that it is important to study the language dynamics of numerically dom- inant groups to find out what makes them withstand the tide of shifting towards standard languages2 and to assess whether language shift is happening. Research has shown that large groups are not safe from language shift. For example, Foochow is the largest Chinese dialect group in Sarawak, and the group is experiencing lan- guage shift not only in towns
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Social Semiotics: Realizing Destination Image by Means of Cultural Representations
    International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 5, No. 1, January 2015 Social Semiotics: Realizing Destination Image by Means of Cultural Representations Hanita Hassan However, studies on tourism from a communication Abstract—This paper discusses the ways in which cultures perspective are lacking [7] and therefore this study aimed to are used as a part of tourism commodities to realize destination study how Malaysian diverse cultures are represented to image. Tourism advertisements were analyzed using realize a destination image using social semiotic framework. multimodal discourse framework. The findings show that both, linguistic and nonlinguistic, modes complement each other as social semiotic resources in realizing cultures as destination image. Different ethnic groups that reside in Malaysia and II. SOCIAL SEMIOTICS AS A MEANING MAKING TOOL traditional lifestyles which compose Malaysian cultures are linguistically described as to instill the sense of pleasure, A. Semiotic Resources impressiveness and recreational. On the other hand, images Social semiotics refers to social or semiotic actions that that portray Malaysian cultures, for example, people from produce meaning. The main concern of social semiotics is on different ethnicities, traditional costumes and traditional houses are found to be exclusively adopted in tourism advertisements the construction of social meaning, or a common theme, by as persuasive tools. means of semiotic forms, for instance, texts and practices [8], [9]. In order to derive to the shared meaning, the society Index Terms—Culture, meaning making. social semiotics, needs to get hold of certain semiotic resources. tourism advertisements. Semiotic resources include almost everything we do or make that contributes to meaning and this thus makes it clear that 'semiotic resources are not restricted to speech and I.
    [Show full text]
  • Narratives of the Dayak People of Sarawak, Malaysia Elizabeth Weinlein '17 Pitzer College
    EnviroLab Asia Volume 1 Article 6 Issue 1 Justice, Indigeneity, and Development 2017 Indigenous People, Development and Environmental Justice: Narratives of the Dayak People of Sarawak, Malaysia Elizabeth Weinlein '17 Pitzer College Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/envirolabasia Part of the Anthropology Commons, Asian History Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, East Asian Languages and Societies Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Environmental Sciences Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, Geography Commons, Policy History, Theory, and Methods Commons, Religion Commons, Social Policy Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Weinlein, Elizabeth '17 (2017) "Indigenous People, Development and Environmental Justice: Narratives of the Dayak People of Sarawak, Malaysia," EnviroLab Asia: Vol. 1: Iss. 1, Article 6. Available at: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/envirolabasia/vol1/iss1/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Claremont at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in EnviroLab Asia by an authorized editor of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Indigenous People, Development and Environmental Justice: Narratives of the Dayak People of Sarawak, Malaysia Cover Page Footnote Elizabeth Weinlein graduated from Pitzer College in 2017, double majoring in Environmental Policy and Asian Studies. For the next year, she has committed to working with the Americorps
    [Show full text]
  • SUPPLY, ERECTION and COMMISSIONING of JULAU 33/11Kv SUBSTATION, SARIKEI
    Volume 1 – Part I, Section 2 – Tender Particulars SUPPLY, ERECTION AND COMMISSIONING OF JULAU 33/11kV SUBSTATION, SARIKEI SARAWAK ENERGY BERHAD TENDER DOCUMENTS – CONTRACT REF. NO.: PLS-188006-E VOLUME 1 PART I – TENDER PROCEDURES SECTION 2 – TENDER PARTICULARS This Section specifies those matters particular to this tender process and should also be read in conjunction with the Instructions to Tenderer set out in Section 3 of Part I of the Tender Documents. Julau 33/11kV Substation Distribution Project Execution (Contract Ref. No. PLS-188006-E) Volume 1 - Part I, Section 2 – Tender Particulars TENDER PARTICULARS No. Clause Reference Description Details 1. Sub-Clause 1.1.4 Closing Date and 3:00 p.m. on 8 May 2019 (Wednesday). and Sub-Clause Time 5.1 [Closing Date and Time] 2. Sub-Clause 1.1.12 Eligibility Tenderers must be registered Contractor with the and Sub-Clause Requirements following: 2.4 [Eligibility to a) Unit Pendaftaran Kontraktor (UPK) Electrical Tender] Works Class II or above, Head VIIB under the following subheads:- - Subhead 4a (Switchgear & Substation No Limit) or - Subhead 4b (Switchgear & Substation up to 33kV) b) CIDB Grade 4 or above Category ME, E04 (Low Voltage Installation) & E05 (High Voltage Installation) The tenderers must also provide details in the tender submission (Volume 2 – Unpriced Commercial, Schedule 8) of successfully completing at least one a) Substation Projects for 33kV or higher voltage switchgears, transformers and ancillaries contract of similar magnitude and complexity; or b) Transformer Uprating up to 33kV or higher voltage; or c) Switchgear Extension up to 33kV or higher voltage 3.
    [Show full text]
  • SARAWAK GOVERNMENT GAZETTE PART II Published by Authority
    For Reference Only T H E SARAWAK GOVERNMENT GAZETTE PART II Published by Authority Vol. LXXI 25th July, 2016 No. 50 Swk. L. N. 204 THE ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS ORDINANCE THE ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS ORDER, 2016 (Made under section 3) In exercise of the powers conferred upon the Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri by section 3 of the Administrative Areas Ordinance [Cap. 34], the following Order has been made: Citation and commencement 1. This Order may be cited as the Administrative Areas Order, 2016, and shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of August, 2015. Administrative Areas 2. Sarawak is divided into the divisions, districts and sub-districts specified and described in the Schedule. Revocation 3. The Administrative Areas Order, 2015 [Swk. L.N. 366/2015] is hereby revokedSarawak. Lawnet For Reference Only 26 SCHEDULE ADMINISTRATIVE AREAS KUCHING DIVISION (1) Kuching Division Area (Area=4,195 km² approximately) Commencing from a point on the coast approximately midway between Sungai Tambir Hulu and Sungai Tambir Haji Untong; thence bearing approximately 260º 00′ distance approximately 5.45 kilometres; thence bearing approximately 180º 00′ distance approximately 1.1 kilometres to the junction of Sungai Tanju and Loba Tanju; thence in southeasterly direction along Loba Tanju to its estuary with Batang Samarahan; thence upstream along mid Batang Samarahan for a distance approximately 5.0 kilometres; thence bearing approximately 180º 00′ distance approximately 1.8 kilometres to the midstream of Loba Batu Belat; thence in westerly direction along midstream of Loba Batu Belat to the mouth of Loba Gong; thence in southwesterly direction along the midstream of Loba Gong to a point on its confluence with Sungai Bayor; thence along the midstream of Sungai Bayor going downstream to a point at its confluence with Sungai Kuap; thence upstream along mid Sungai Kuap to a point at its confluence with Sungai Semengoh; thence upstream following the mid Sungai Semengoh to a point at the midstream of Sungai Semengoh and between the middle of survey peg nos.
    [Show full text]
  • TITLE Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program: Malaysia 1995
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 405 265 SO 026 916 TITLE Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program: Malaysia 1995. Participants' Reports. INSTITUTION Center for International Education (ED), Washington, DC.; Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange, Kuala Lumpur. PUB DATE 95 NOTE 321p.; Some images will not reproduce clearly. PUB TYPE Guides Non-Classroom Use (055) Reports Descriptive (141) Collected Works General (020) EDRS PRICE MFO1 /PC13 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Area Studies; *Asian History; *Asian Studies; Cultural Background; Culture; Elementary Secondary Education; Foreign Countries; Foreign Culture; *Global Education; Human Geography; Instructional Materials; *Non Western Civilization; Social Studies; *World Geography; *World History IDENTIFIERS Fulbright Hays Seminars Abroad Program; *Malaysia ABSTRACT These reports and lesson plans were developed by teachers and coordinators who traveled to Malaysia during the summer of 1995 as part of the U.S. Department of Education's Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad Program. Sections of the report include:(1) "Gender and Economics: Malaysia" (Mary C. Furlong);(2) "Malaysia: An Integrated, Interdisciplinary Social Studies Unit for Middle School/High School Students" (Nancy K. Hof);(3) "Malaysian Adventure: The Cultural Diversity of Malaysia" (Genevieve M. Homiller);(4) "Celebrating Cultural Diversity: The Traditional Malay Marriage Ritual" (Dorene H. James);(5) "An Introduction of Malaysia: A Mini-unit for Sixth Graders" (John F. Kennedy); (6) "Malaysia: An Interdisciplinary Unit in English Literature and Social Studies" (Carol M. Krause);(7) "Malaysia and the Challenge of Development by the Year 2020" (Neale McGoldrick);(8) "The Iban: From Sea Pirates to Dwellers of the Rain Forest" (Margaret E. Oriol);(9) "Vision 2020" (Louis R. Price);(10) "Sarawak for Sale: A Simulation of Environmental Decision Making in Malaysia" (Kathleen L.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume 3, No. 1, 1971
    PJ'( BORNEO RESEARCHBULLETIN I Vol. 3, No. 1 June, 1971 Notes from the Editor: Special Issues -BRB; Contributions Received ; New Member of Board of Directors. Research Notes Milestones in the History of Kutai, Kalimantan-Timur, Borneo ...........................................J. R. Wortmann 5 New Radio-Carbon [C-14) Dates from Brunei.. .. .Tom Harrisson 7 The Establishment of a Residency in Brunei 1881-1905....,... ..*.~.........................*.......Colin Neil Crisswell 8 Bajau Pottery-making in the Semporna District. ..C. A. Sather 10 Bajau Villages in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Indonesia....... .....t....+,...l............,~,.,............C. A. Sather 11 James Brooke and British Political Activities in Borneo and Sulu 1839-1868: Local Influences on the Determination of Imperial Policy ............................LE. Ingleson 12 History of Missionary Activity in Borneo: A Bibliographic Note ...........................+.....,..,....a y B. Crain 13 Report on Anthropological Field Work Among the Lun Bawang (Murut) People of Sarawak ..................James L. Deegan 14 Sabah Timber Exports: 1950-1968. ..............LOH Chee-Seng 16 Systems of Land Tenure in Borneo: A Problem in Ecological Determinism ..........................t.....,.G. N. Appell 17 Brief Communications Responsibility in Biolog,ical Field Work........ ............. 20 Developments in Section CT: Conservation--International Biological Programme.. .. .. .. , . 23 An Analysis of Developmental Change Among the Iban.. .. .......................................+...Pet D. Weldon 25 Institute of South-East Asian Biology, University of Aberdeen, Scotland--U.K ................,*...A, G. Marshall 25 Borneo Studies at the University of Hull........M. A. Jaspan 26 Request for Information on Tumbaga, A Gold-Copper Alloy ..... 27 Major Investments by Shell and Weyerhaeuser in Borneo. .. 27 Notes and Comments from -BRB Readers,,....................... 28 The Borneo Research Bulletin is published twice yearly (June and December) by the Borneo Research Council.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of Small and Medium Enterprises Dilemmas on Business Performance
    THE IMPACT OF SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES DILEMMAS ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE Siti Aisyah Ya’kob*, Kit-Kang Liew** & Norlina Kadri*** Siti Aisyah Ya’kob, Lecturer, Department of Business Management, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia, E-Mail: [email protected]* Kit-Kang Liew, Department of Business Management, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia, E-Mail: [email protected]** Norlina Kadri, Lecturer, Department of Accounting and Finance, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia, E-Mail: [email protected]*** ABSTRACT Business performance is an important element in the business. Thus, the dilemma confronted by the small and medium enterprises will affect both financial and non-financial business performance. A study on the small and medium enterprises topic is not new but necessary in order to observe the effect of the considerable issues in business environment. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate the dilemmas that affect the business performance among small and medium enterprises in service sector. Three dimensions have been proposed, which are transportation facilities, financial strength, and labor force skills. A total of 159 sets of questionnaires were completed by the firms’ representative. The findings from this study discovered that transportation facilities, financial strength, and labor force skills have a significant and positive relationship with business performance. The results present a better understanding of transportation facilities, financial strength, and labor force skills issues from small and medium enterprises in Kuching city, which is located in Borneo Island. Keyword – business performance, Sarawak, small and medium enterprises INTRODUCTION Small and medium sized industry is still in the works to grow day to day as it is a key driver for the nation development (The Borneo Post, 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • English for the Indigenous People of Sarawak: Focus on the Bidayuhs
    CHAPTER 6 English for the Indigenous People of Sarawak: Focus on the Bidayuhs Patricia Nora Riget and Xiaomei Wang Introduction Sarawak covers a vast land area of 124,450 km2 and is the largest state in Malaysia. Despite its size, its population of 2.4 million people constitutes less than one tenth of the country’s population of 30 million people (as of 2015). In terms of its ethnic composition, besides the Malays and Chinese, there are at least 10 main indigenous groups living within the state’s border, namely the Iban, Bidayuh, Melanau, Bisaya, Kelabit, Lun Bawang, Penan, Kayan, Kenyah and Kajang, the last three being collectively known as the Orang Ulu (lit. ‘upriver people’), a term that also includes other smaller groups (Hood, 2006). The Bidayuh (formerly known as the Land Dayaks) population is 198,473 (State Planning Unit, 2010), which constitutes roughly 8% of the total popula- tion of Sarawak. The Bidayuhs form the fourth largest ethnic group after the Ibans, the Chinese and the Malays. In terms of their distribution and density, the Bidayuhs are mostly found living in the Lundu, Bau and Kuching districts (Kuching Division) and in the Serian district (Samarahan Division), situated at the western end of Sarawak (Rensch et al., 2006). However, due to the lack of employment opportunities in their native districts, many Bidayuhs, especially youths, have migrated to other parts of the state, such as Miri in the east, for job opportunities and many have moved to parts of Peninsula Malaysia, espe- cially Kuala Lumpur, to seek greener pastures. Traditionally, the Bidayuhs lived in longhouses along the hills and were involved primarily in hill paddy planting.
    [Show full text]
  • Iban Woman PDF Book
    IBAN WOMAN PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Golda Mowe | 256 pages | 31 Oct 2018 | Monsoon Books | 9781912049363 | English | Burrough on the Hill, United Kingdom Iban Woman PDF Book Tuai Burung: According to Freeman b recruitment to being a community augur is a result of a dream experience. Kelambi and Sirat. This and later developments produced a more complex jural personality for the village than exists among the Ibans. And he argues,. Busy pictures and bold patterns make an entertaining book to complete. For example, are there other rituals involving the village as a corporate entity? I see it as an offering,? Accounts of Iban headhunting have intrigued scholars so that those who discuss headhunting in Southeast Asia use the Iban cultural pattern as background against which to compare data from other societies e. The speed by which Ibans were able to mobilize for war and headhunting disconfirms the older claim that unilineal organization had the selective advantage of being more efficient in mobilizing for defense, warfare and expansion see Netting ; Sahlins , a. Angelina Vanoni marked it as to-read Mar 02, In this religious belief is viewed as a theoretical structure that explains causal relations among phenomena see Saler That along witha boat technology would permit these populations to spread out into the regions of Southeast Asia that were underpopulated by hunters and gatherers. Therefore, they constitute a agriculture because it is a main economic activity in substantial economic resource Jayawardhana rural Sarawak, especially among the natives such as Whether the primary expansion of the Ibans can partially or largely be explained by the assimilation of other groups, particularly those at a lower level in the socioeconomic scale, or by assimilating prisoners of war, or whether it was primarily a product of internal population growth, it is clear that there were cultural and social innovations that enabled the Ibans to overcome other ethnic groups in their competition for territory.
    [Show full text]
  • Iban Concepts of Sexual Peril and the Dangers of Childbirth
    C. Sather The malevolent koklir: Iban concepts of sexual peril and the dangers of childbirth In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 134 (1978), no: 2/3, Leiden, 310-355 This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com02/19/2019 11:27:25PM via free access CLIFFORD SATHER THE MALEVOLENT KOKLIR: IBAN CONCEPTS OF SEXUAL PERIL AND THE DANGERS OF CHILDBIRTH In this essay I am concerned with Iban notions of sexual peril, by which I mean beliefs that sexual relations are potentially endangering to the individual. To the Iban, an indigenous riverine people of west- central Borneo, these notions are cast in an idiom of spirit malevolency and are predominantly associated with what the Iban perceive to be, and what to a large extent are, in fact, genuine physical dangers con- nected with childbirth, and with etiological assumptions concerning miscarriage, in utero or infant death, maternal mortality, and the physiological complications of parturition. Sociological discussions of sexuality tend to emphasize the solidarity produced by sexual bonding and the resulting reproductive replenishment of members to a social system. Iban notions of sexual peril bring out another side of sexuality not easily encompassed by sociological theory, and are seen here as ideational projections of conflict beween die sexes, associated, in diis instance, with the perceived dangers of sexuality as a potential source of death to women and infants in die actual, phenomenal world of Iban experience. The Iban are a Proto-Malay people, who togedier widi linguistically allied groups, such as the Bugau, Kantu', Seberuang, Mualang and odiers of die northern Kapuas drainage, number some 430,000 persons in western Borneo.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study on Trend of Logs Production and Export in the State of Sarawak, Malaysia
    International Journal of Marketing Studies www.ccsenet.org/ijms A Study on Trend of Logs Production and Export in the State of Sarawak, Malaysia Pakhriazad, H.Z. (Corresponding author) & Mohd Hasmadi, I Department of Forest Management, Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Tel: 60-3-8946-7225 E-mail: [email protected] Abstract This study was conducted to determine the trend of logs production and export in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. The trend of logs production in this study referred only to hill and peat swamp forest logs production with their species detailed production. The trend of logs export was divided into selected species and destinations. The study covers the analysis of logs production and export for a period of ten years from 1997 to 2006. Data on logs production and export were collected from statistics published by the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (Statistic of Sarawak Timber and Timber Product), Sarawak Timber Association (Sarawak Timber Association Review), Hardwood Timber Sdn. Bhd (Warta) and Malaysia Timber Industry Board (MTIB). The trend of logs production and export were analyzed using regression model and times series. In addition, the relation between hill and peat swamp forest logs production with their species and trend of logs export by selected species and destinations were conducted using simple regression model and descriptive statistical analysis. The results depicted that volume of logs production and export by four major logs producer (Sibu division, Bintulu division, Miri division and Kuching division) for hill and peat swamp forest showed a declining trend. Result showed that Sibu division is the major logs producer for hill forest while Bintulu division is the major producer of logs produced for the peat swamp forest.
    [Show full text]
  • SPEAKING IBAN by Burr Baughman Edited by Rev
    SPEAKING IBAN by Burr Baughman Edited by Rev. Dr. James T. Reuteler, Ph.D. 2 SPEAKING IBAN TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 5 LESSON ONE ..........................................................................................................................7 1. Basic Words and Sentences ...........................................................................................7 2. Note A: Glottal Stop ......................................................................................................9 3. Note B: Position of Modifiers ......................................................................................10 4. Note C: Possessive .......................................................................................................11 5. Exercises ......................................................................................................................11 LESSON TWO ......................................................................................................................15 1. Basic Words and Sentences .........................................................................................15 2. Note A: Sentence Structure ..........................................................................................17 Simple Statement Simple Question 3. Note B: Numeral Classifiers ........................................................................................23 4. Note C: Terms of Address
    [Show full text]