フォーク・カテゴリーの位相問題 : フィリピン・バタン島における民俗分類の研究から
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概要
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This report is mainly concerned with the method of eliciting covert categories in folk taxonomical studies. Covert categories, according to the definition of BERLIN and his colleagus, are folk categories which have no monolexemical label in a given folk taxonomical system. In questioning the utility of restricting folk taxonomical description to labelled categories, BERLIN and his collaborators proposed a method of eliciting covert categories with the aid of triad-test, folk keys and paired comparisons. But it is not so persuasive to establish the conceptual outlines of such covert categories as shown by the critical comment of BROWN. This methodological weakness is fatal when we would like to use the method of folk taxonomy to extract the cosmological system or the world view of a given society. Because relationships among the ethno-biological taxa used as keys in the symbolic world of folk societies have never been investigated in folk taxonomical studies. These ethno-biological taxa are inclusive and located on the higher level of the folk taxonomical system admitting that they are not covert. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new method of eliciting covert folk categories and clarifying the interrelations among folk categories with the intention of offsetting the theoretical shortcomings resulted from the most fundamental assumption of folk taxonomical studies that has restricted ethnographic description to labelled categories. The domains of natural objects to which a certain type of expression or set of words are employed can be recognized as the outlines of covert categories. Adopting this basic hypothesis, many covert categories and subgroupings of folk categories can be revealed everywhere in the domain of folk bio-taxonomy. In Batan Island, various expressions are used to describe the stages of growth of the domestic and wild animals. Native expression in Ivatan language to describe the stages of growth for human beings is the most complex one (Fig. 2). For pigs (Fig. 5), larger domestic mammals (Fig. 3) and small mammals (Fig. 4), different systems of nomenclature are prepared. On the terminologically-identifiable level, we cannot find these categorizations. In the same way, to describe the stages of growth of the birds we can recognize three modes of expression (Fig. 6). The domain of application of a certain mode of expression indicates the outline of a folk category. When this category is not identifiable on the level of a system of monolexemically labelled folk categories related by hierarchic inclusion, it would be a covert category. This method is effective not only to elicite covert categories but to establish the significant subgroupings of overt categories included in a same covert category. In this report, besides the systems of nomenclature for the stages of growth, Ivatan ,expressions about the basic anatomical structure and the body constitution are duly considered. Refering to the results, these subgroupings of folk categories which are induced by the above-mentioned method are not the same. Concerning the basic anatomical structure, the human body is described to be composed of four-strata such as bu : boh (hair)/kedit (skin)/asi (flesh)/tuhang (bone) (Fig. 8). The same expression is also applicable to mammals and birds, but the teleosts have its proper usage. Sharks, reptiles and amphibians have a common mode of expression. We can distinguish other two modes of nomenclature for the lower animals.
- 日本文化人類学会の論文
- 1978-06-30