[Lexicog] A prototypical blessing

[phil cash cash]

initially, i was objecting to the idea of equating "blessing" as a  
human ability, at least for such an equivalent in Nez Perce.

so i was thinking about this a bit more and i realized that it may be  
an issue of pragmatic saliency.

certainly the orientation of the missionaries who introduced such words  
into the Nez Perce vocabulary possessed a pragmatic oriented (hence  
Christian) view where priests (and supposedly the devoted) were  
"blessed" individuals who gave "blessings" to the "unblessed" through  
pronouncements of various kinds.

of course, this pragmatic saliency gave the act of blessing a vocative  
"power" (whatever power that might be), at least from the point of view  
of the priests.  but in the Nez Perce view, this type of pragmatic  
saliency is not lexicalized.  this is most likely due to the fact that  
in the world view of most Nez Perce the assumption of power and the  
ability to be blessed by such power is only granted by non-human  
sources.  so if i went around blessing people, most people would think  
i was touched in the head.  ;-)

but you are right in noting that higher powers, whatever that may be,  
can bless humans.  as an example, in Nez Perce the preference would be  
to say:

wéeyexnin' N. 'a person blessed by the guardian spirit, a person with  
power'
wéeyek- V. 'to go to receive a spirit guardian''

such persons, however, cannot bless others unless they themselves  
surrender their power.  to do so would only invite one's death.  so  
too, if i said "bless you", an old timer Nez perce might take offense  
as spirit guardians are life-threatening and very dangerous.

just a few of thoughts...

phil cash cash (cayuse/nez perce)
UofA


On Apr 23, 2004, at 11:53 AM, rrhodes at cogsci.berkeley.edu wrote:

> Wayne,
> 	You can't mean that the Cheyenne don't have a traditional way
> that supernatural power can be conferred to them. What happens in the
> vision quest? When someone fasts to gain the support of a manito
> (whatever that's called in Cheyenne), isn't that a "blessing". That's
> sure the way it works in the woodlands Algonquian cultures.
>
> Rich
>
>
> At 9:57 AM -0600 4/23/04, Wayne Leman wrote:
>>> Phil,
>>>
>>>  I agree about the world view but probably we have to distinguish
>>>  between words and concepts.
>>
>> Yes, sometimes this is necessary, Fritz.
>>
>>>  Even if a word for "blessing" does not exist in Cheyenne or Nez  
>>> Perce,
>>>  I would imagine the idea of "conveying or transmitting power"  
>>> exists.
>>
>> Not in Cheyenne.
>>
>>>  I contend that "blessing" as a speech act or an action is an
>>>  "empowering."
>>
>> That makes sense to me, also, but Cheyennes don't empower people.
>>
>>>  In Manding languages in West Africa an interesting semantic shift
>>>  occurred from Arabic barakat = blessing to baraka = power.
>>>
>>>  Fritz Goerling
>>>
>>>  P.S.: About "sin" I daresay that there is a transcultural definition
>>>        as a transgression/violation of ethical norms. How these norms
>>>        look like (like the 10 Commandments or another ethical code)  
>>> and
>>>        what constitutes a "transgression" (or "sin") can be quite
>>>        different from culture to culture or from person to person.
>>>        Like what is a "lie" can be quite different from culture to
>>>        culture.
>>
>> True
>>
>>>  Is there a prototypical "lie"?
>>
>> I think there can be prototypes within each culture/worldview.
>>
>> Wayne Leman
>> Cheyenne project
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --  
> ******************************************************************
>
>   Richard A. Rhodes
>   Department of Linguistics
>   University of California
>   Berkeley, CA 94720-2650
>   Voice (510) 643-7325
>   FAX (510) 643-5688
>
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