Celebrating Indigenous Voice: Legends and Narratives in Languages of the Tropics and Beyond - Hardcover

by Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald (Editor), Robert L. Bradshaw (Editor), Luca Ciucci (Editor)

Every society thrives on stories, legends and myths.

This volume explores the linguistic devices employed in the astoundingly rich narrative traditions in the tropical hot-spots of linguistic and cultural diversity, and the ways in which cultural changes and new means of communication affect narrative genres and structures. It focusses on linguistic and cultural facets of the narratives in the areas of linguistic diversity across the tropics and surrounding areas -- New Guinea, Northern Australia, Siberia, and also the Tibeto-Burman region. The introduction brings together the recurrent themes in the grammar and the substance of the narratives. The twelve contributions to the volume address grammatical forms and categories deployed in organizing the narrative and interweaving the protagonists and the narrator. These include quotations, person of the narrator and the protagonist, mirativity, demonstratives, and clause chaining. The contributors also address the kinds of narratives told, their organization and evolution in time and space, under the impact of post-colonial experience and new means of communication via social media.

The volume highlights the importance of documenting narrative tradition across indigenous languages.

Back Jacket

Narratives, legends, and stories are a key to cultural knowledge and cultural heritage across languages of the world. Cultural changes and new means of communication affect narratives and their structures. This book explores the linguistic devices employed in the narrative traditions within the hotspots of linguistic and cultural diversity, with special attention to the tropical regions of New Guinea and Australia, Siberia, and the Tibeto-Burman domain.

Author Biography

Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald, CQ University; Robert Bradshaw, Pema Wangdi and Luca Ciucci, James Cook University.