A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path:Animal Metaphors in an Easte Indonesian Society

by: Gregory Forth (Author)

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

Edition: Reprint

Publication Date: 2019/12/12

Language: English

Print Length: 408 pages

ISBN-10: 0773559221

ISBN-13: 9780773559226

Book Description

The Nage people of the easte Indonesian island of Flores refer to someone who begins something but is regularly distracted by other matters as "a dog pissing at the edge of a path." In this first comprehensive study of animal metaphors in a non-Weste society, Gregory Forth focuses on how the Nage understand metaphor and use their knowledge of animals to shape specific expressions. Based on extensive field research, A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path explores the meaning and use of over 560 animal metaphors employed by the Nage. Investigating how closely their indigenous concept of pata péle corresponds to the Greek-derived English concept of metaphor, Forth demonstrates that the Nage people understand these figures of speech in the same way as Westeers - namely as conventional ways of speaking about people and objects, not expressions of an essential identity between their animal vehicles and human referents. Theoretically engaging with anthropology's recent ontological tu, the book considers whether metaphors reveal significant differences in conceptions of human-animal relations, the human-animal contrast, and human understanding of other humans in different parts of the world. An incredible catalogue of animal-based linguistic art and Nage verbal conventions, A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path illuminates essential features of metaphorical thought everywhere.

About the Author

The Nage people of the easte Indonesian island of Flores refer to someone who begins something but is regularly distracted by other matters as "a dog pissing at the edge of a path." In this first comprehensive study of animal metaphors in a non-Weste society, Gregory Forth focuses on how the Nage understand metaphor and use their knowledge of animals to shape specific expressions. Based on extensive field research, A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path explores the meaning and use of over 560 animal metaphors employed by the Nage. Investigating how closely their indigenous concept of pata péle corresponds to the Greek-derived English concept of metaphor, Forth demonstrates that the Nage people understand these figures of speech in the same way as Westeers - namely as conventional ways of speaking about people and objects, not expressions of an essential identity between their animal vehicles and human referents. Theoretically engaging with anthropology's recent ontological tu, the book considers whether metaphors reveal significant differences in conceptions of human-animal relations, the human-animal contrast, and human understanding of other humans in different parts of the world. An incredible catalogue of animal-based linguistic art and Nage verbal conventions, A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path illuminates essential features of metaphorical thought everywhere.