Yaxa Uḱwine', Yaxa Gukw, Dłuwida Awińagwis “The Body, the House
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Yaxa Uḱwine’, yaxa Gukw, dłuwida Awińagwis “The Body, the House, and the Land”: The Conceptualization of Space in Kwakwaka’wakw Language and Culture by Marianne Nicolson B.F.A., Emily Carr University of Art & Design, 1996 M.F.A., University of Victoria, 1999 M.A., University of Victoria, 2005 A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Departments of Linguistics and Anthropology Marianne Nicolson, 2013 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Yaxa Uḱwine’, yaxa Gukw, dłuwida Awińagwis “The Body, the House, and the Land”: The Conceptualization of Space in Kwakwaka’wakw Language and Culture by Marianne Nicolson B.F.A., Emily Carr University of Art & Design, 1996 M.F.A., University of Victoria, 1999 M.A., University of Victoria, 2005 Supervisory Committee Dr. Suzanne Urbanczyk, Department of Linguistics Co-Supervisor Dr. Andrea Walsh, Department of Anthropology Co-Supervisor Dr. Peter Stephenson, Department of Anthropology Departmental Member Dr. Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Department of Art History, UBC Outside Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr, Suzanne Urbanczyk, Department of Linguistics Supervisor Dr. Andrea Walsh, Department of Anthropology Co-Supervisor or Departmental Member Dr. Peter Stephenson, Department of Anthropology Departmental Member Dr. Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Department of Art History, UBC Outside Member Dr. Regna Darnell, Department of Anthropology, UWO Additional Member Kwak’wala is an endangered language spoken by the Kwakwaka’wakw First Nations of the central coast of British Columbia. This dissertation seeks to address the ramifications of Kwak’wala language loss to Kwakwaka’wakw cultural worldview. It asks the general question, “How much of an effect does Kwak’wala language loss have on cultural understanding?” It seeks to answer the question through a specific analysis of the concept of space mapped through linguistic and artistic expression. The concept of space is integral to the understanding of the body in relationship to objects, people, social structure and geographic conceptualization. Through linguistic morphological analysis a corpus of approximately 600 word and phrase examples drawn from the linguistic documentation of Franz Boas and George Hunt, David Grubb, the website First Voices and contemporary Kwak’wala speakers was analyzed for semantic content (meaning). The content (meanings of words and phrases) was then contextualized into broader cultural expressions and beliefs through prototype theory, radial iv categorization, metaphor and analogy. The dissertation then explores the connections between “linguistic” spatial expression represented through words and speech with what can be considered as “non-linguistic” cultural expressions such as architecture, social structure, performance and visual art. Four major visual works were created that sought to express aspects of the spatial concepts that were emerging from the Kwak’wala linguistic study. Ultimately, the research reveals a strong spatial mapping process between the human body, the architecture of “the house” and the landscape traditionally occupied by the Kwakwaka’wakw which results in a metaphorical conceptualization of Body=House=Land/World which can be said to exist in Kwak’wala language forms and translates as highly productive in cultural manifestations. With the replacement of Kwak’wala by English the strength of this metaphor is weakened but not eradicated within Kwakwaka’wakw cultural expression. v Table of Contents Supervisory Committee………………………………………………………………………………..…ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………....iii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………….…..….v List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………………….....ix Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………………..…xiii Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………………..……xiv Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...……...1 1.1 Problem statement………………………....…………………………………………...……….1 1.2 Research objective……………………………………………………………………...……….4 1.3 Central thesis…………………………………………………………………………...………..8 1.4 Thesis outline………………………………………………………….………………...……….9 1.5 Background of the author…………………………………………………………………..….11 Chapter 2: Form and Meaning: Theoretical Frameworks and Methodology……………...………15 2.1. Form and meaning……………………………………………………………………...……...15 2.1.1 What is form? : What is meaning? ……………………………………………………20 2.1.2 Semiotics in anthropology and visual arts……………………………………..……..22 2.2. Written (literal) component of the thesis………………………………………………..…....23 2.2.1. Linguistic morphological analysis………………………………………….……..…...24 2.2.2. Linguistic review of Kwak’wala texts and participant interviews……….………..…27 2.2.3. U’mista orthography………………………………………………………………..…..28 2.2.4 Linguistic contexts: Linguistic Relativity and Cognitive Linguistics……………..…29 2.2.5 Linguistic Relativity…………………………………………………………………..…33 2.2.6 Cognitive Linguistics………………………………………………………………..…..34 2.2.6.1 Metaphor and analogy ……………………………………………………..…35 2.2.6.2 Prototype Theory and Radial Categories………………………………...….38 2.2.7 Anthropology……………………………………………………………...…………...…43 2.2.7.1 Self-criticality of anthropology and visual arts…………………………...….47 2.2.8 Anthropological Linguistics………………………………………………………...…..49 2.2.9 Visual Anthropology.............................................................................................. 51 2.3 Visual (experiential) component of the thesis…………………………………………….....55 2.4 Summary…………………………………………………………………………………….….61 vi Chapter 3: The u-[a’w-] stem: The Body=House=Land Metaphor in the Kwak’wala Language………………………………………………………………………………...…62 3.1 Analogy of the body, the house, and the land…………………………………………..…..62 3.2 General concept of analogy in Kwakwaka’wakw belief systems……………………….....71 3.3 Metaphor as a major cognitive process…………………………………………………...…74 3.4 Metaphorical extensions of the body……………………...……………………………...….75 3.5 The Kwak’wala stem u-[a’w-]………………………………………………………………….76 3.5.1 Example sets 1-13 of analogous references to the body…………………….….....81 3.5.2 Independent forms…………………………………………………………….……..…90 3.5.3 Kwak’wala suffixes that reference the body……………………………….……..….92 3.5.3.1 Word examples using body part suffixes………………………………...…..95 3.6 The stem u-[a’w-] in Kwakwaka’wakw geographical names………………………………97 3.6.1 Body part suffixes used in geographical names…………………………………….99 3.6.2 Examples of geographic names that reference the body without the u-[a’w-] stem…………………………………………………………………………...101 3.7 Other forms: the object as a container, the body as a container………………………...102 3.7.1 Canoes………………………………………………………………………………….103 3.7.2 Bowls and feast dishes……………………………………………………………….107 3.7.3 Boxes and Chests……………………………………………………………………..110 3.8 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………115 Chapter 4: The Body as Point of Origin/The Beginning…………………………………………...117 4.1 Kwak'wala pronouns………………………………………………………………………….117 4.2 "Here and There" Degrees of personal distance ga-, yu- & he-…………………………126 4.3 Ga- "closest degree of distance to the self"………………………………………………..130 4.3.1 Related stems: Boas 1948, pp. 252-255: gay- & gax-…………………………….132 4.3.2 La-, Gax-, degrees of closeness and movement (away & towards)…………......135 4.3.3 Temporal relationship -ga and gal-: space & time…………………………………140 4.4 Yu- "referring to someone/something around"…………………………………………….156 4.4.1 Unusual older forms containing a temporal element………………………………161 4.5 He- "away from the point of origin: further away & completely removed"……………...162 4.5.1 Related meanings: Boas 1948: pp. 97-99…………………………………………..168 4.5.1.1 The secondary meaning of he- "in a straight direction to a distant point"……………………………………………………………………………………..170 vii 4.5.1.2 Temporal (time) crossoverof the meaning of he-…………………………..174 4.6 Implied distance of objects and events in time and space: gax-, la- & he-……………..177 4.7 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………180 Chapter 5: Giga la’etłax! “Enter the House!” Body=House=Land Metaphor in Kwakwaka’wakw Culture………………………….182 5.1 Kwakwaka’wakw houses in relationship to the universe and the body…………………182 5.1.1 The house as a microcosm of the universe………………………………………...193 5.2 -ił “in the house”, -is “outside on the land”………………………………………………….196 5.3 The house metaphor and social structure: the ʼnaḿima is a house…………………......204 5.3.1 Temporal considerations of the social body………………………………………..218 5.4 House metaphor in speech and song………………………………………………………232 5.5 The house metaphor and the structure of button blankets…………………………….…240 5.6 Summary………………………………………………………………………………………245 Chapter 6: Laxa ‘Awinagwis’ “On the Land”: Kwakwaka’wakw Geographic Space……………247 6.1 Land and sea / upriver and downriver……………………………………………………...247 6.1.1 Prior research………………………………………………………………………….249 6.2 North, south, east and west?…….………………………………………………………….255 6.2.1 “The landscape” in Kwak’wala……………………………………………………….256 6.3 The primary geographic division of atł- “land region” and ťłas- “sea region”…………...268 6.3.1 Place names using atł- and ťłas- (Boas, 1934)……………………………………..275 6.4 Description of the secondary orientation of ‘nal-[‘nal-] “upriver” and gwa- “downriver”…………………………………………………………………………………….276 6.5 Proposed theory of downriver descent……………………………………………………..286 6.6 Expanding ‘nal-[‘nal-] and gwa- to the British Columbia coastal axis of south and north……………………………………………………………………………………………299 6.7