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The language of eating and drinking: a window on Orang Asli meaning-making

Burenhult, Niclas LU and Kruspe, Nicole LU (2016) p.175-199
Abstract
We make in this chapter a first probe into the lexical domain of eating and drinking as it is construed in the Aslian languages, a branch of the Austroasiatic language family spoken by a majority of the Orang Asli of the Malay Peninsula. Fundamental to human experience and representation, the domain of ingestion has received increased linguistic attention in recent years. Setting out from our own primary field data from several Aslian languages, collected over the past 25 years , we examine the form, meaning, and history of eating and drinking vocabulary and show that Aslian harbours unusual lexical strategies for ingestion. We place particular focus on ingestion events as expressed in the class of verbs. Moreover, in this seemingly... (More)
We make in this chapter a first probe into the lexical domain of eating and drinking as it is construed in the Aslian languages, a branch of the Austroasiatic language family spoken by a majority of the Orang Asli of the Malay Peninsula. Fundamental to human experience and representation, the domain of ingestion has received increased linguistic attention in recent years. Setting out from our own primary field data from several Aslian languages, collected over the past 25 years , we examine the form, meaning, and history of eating and drinking vocabulary and show that Aslian harbours unusual lexical strategies for ingestion. We place particular focus on ingestion events as expressed in the class of verbs. Moreover, in this seemingly restricted and mundane domain, we unpack semantic principles of wider significance to Aslian meaning-making, which speak directly to cultural distinctions within the Orang Asli sphere. In particular, we uncover a clear distinction in semantic categorisation strategies between foragers and non-foragers. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Malaysia’s original people : Past, present and future of the Orang Asli - Past, present and future of the Orang Asli
editor
Endicott, Kirk
pages
175 - 199
publisher
National University of Singapore Press
ISBN
978-9971-69-861-4
project
Digital Multimedia Archive of Austroasiatic Intangible Heritage Phase II: Seeding Multidisciplinary Workspaces
Language as key to perceptual diversity: an interdisciplinary approach to the senses
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0c941bec-e89f-41ec-990c-917b945e82b2 (old id 5472972)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 11:41:23
date last changed
2019-04-12 10:48:16
@inbook{0c941bec-e89f-41ec-990c-917b945e82b2,
  abstract     = {{We make in this chapter a first probe into the lexical domain of eating and drinking as it is construed in the Aslian languages, a branch of the Austroasiatic language family spoken by a majority of the Orang Asli of the Malay Peninsula. Fundamental to human experience and representation, the domain of ingestion has received increased linguistic attention in recent years. Setting out from our own primary field data from several Aslian languages, collected over the past 25 years , we examine the form, meaning, and history of eating and drinking vocabulary and show that Aslian harbours unusual lexical strategies for ingestion. We place particular focus on ingestion events as expressed in the class of verbs. Moreover, in this seemingly restricted and mundane domain, we unpack semantic principles of wider significance to Aslian meaning-making, which speak directly to cultural distinctions within the Orang Asli sphere. In particular, we uncover a clear distinction in semantic categorisation strategies between foragers and non-foragers.}},
  author       = {{Burenhult, Niclas and Kruspe, Nicole}},
  booktitle    = {{Malaysia’s original people : Past, present and future of the Orang Asli}},
  editor       = {{Endicott, Kirk}},
  isbn         = {{978-9971-69-861-4}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{175--199}},
  publisher    = {{National University of Singapore Press}},
  title        = {{The language of eating and drinking: a window on Orang Asli meaning-making}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/51192900/Burenhult_Kruspe_The_language_of_eating_and_drinking.pdf}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}