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[Carolyn Brewer]

I'm a new member to this group.  My background is in religious and feminist 
studies, and my current doctoral research is an historical study into the 
impact on women priestesses (baylans or catalonans) of hispanic 
catholicism in the  Philippines.  I have a question for the list, and 
since my disciplines do not normally involve 'languages' I hope you'll 
bear with me.. 

My question is not about a whole endangered language, 
but rather they way that certain words to do with animist religious 
practitioners have disappeared from the languages of the archipelago.  
This is not a simple horizontal replacement of one word for another for 
example baylan - sacerdotisa  (shaman to priestess), but rather 
these positive words, catalonan and baylan, have been replaced 
with negative words - such as a transliteration of the Spanish bruja 
[bruha] - witch.

Since this isn't my field, can anyone advise me of books or articles that 
may help me theorise this phenomenon. 

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Carolyn Brewer		Email      carolyn at central.murdoch.edu.au
Asian Studies		Home Phone (09) 418 3972	
Murdoch University      Fax        (09) 360 6367 
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