[RNLD] Physical avoidance

[Nicholas Reid]

Hi Joe,

This is only a brief mention but the Ngan’gi Dictionary includes a discussion of kin determined behaviours that notes:

"As is true throughout Aboriginal Australia, Ngan’gikurunggurr and Ngen’giwumirri people place enormous importance on family and relationships. How one person is related to another person to a large extent determines the kind of verbal interaction and other behaviour that takes place between them. On the one hand you find the kind of relationship where ‘acting appropriately’ means general avoidance of deliberate face-to-face interaction. This is most evident between a man and his wife’s mother, so if a man and his mother-in-law realise they are walking towards each other, it would be normal for them to divert to avoid meeting.  If a man announces something in camp intended for his mother-in-law’s ears, he’ll broadcast it loudly to ‘no-one in particular’. This kind of avoidance is also widely found in the Daly region between adult brothers and sisters. So if a brother and two sisters travel in a car, it would be normal for the brother to sit in the front and the sisters in the back, just to avoid close proximity and physical contact between siblings of the opposite sex. At the other extreme, you can witness the kind of relationship where ‘acting appropriately’ means ostentatious joking and explicit frequent reference to ‘risque’ topics, as found for example with the ngan’gi wilewile ribald speech style.”

ref is:

2008     Reid, N. and P. McTaggart. Ngan’gi Dictionary. Armidale: Australian Linguistics Press.

cheers

Nick

Assoc Prof
School of Behavioural, Cognitive and Social Sciences
University of New England
Armidale  NSW  2351
Australia

ph: +61 2 6773 3400
fax: +61 2 6773 3748
email: nreid at une.edu.au<mailto:nreid at une.edu.au>
webpage: http://www.une.edu.au/staff-profiles/nreid


On 21 Sep 2016, at 10:40 pm, Joe Blythe <blythe.joe at gmail.com<mailto:blythe.joe at gmail.com>> wrote:

Dear all,
A colleague in Germany was asking me for references on physical avoidance in Aboriginal Australia and it struck me most of my references relate mostly to avoidance of names and/or it effects on grammar. So I’m wondering if anyone has some useful references on physical avoidance.
Cheers
Joe



Dr Joe Blythe
ARC DECRA Fellow
Department of Linguistics
Macquarie University
Room 566, Building C5A
Balaclava Rd, North Ryde
NSW 2109, Australia
Ph: +61-2-9850-8089  |   Mob: +61-409-88-1153
E: joe.blythe at mq.edu.au<mailto:joe.blythe at mq.edu.au>  |  Web<http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_human_sciences/linguistics/linguistics_staff/dr_joe_blythe/>


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