Power Sharing: Language, Rank, Gender and Social Space in Pohnpei, Micronesia (Oxford Studies in Anthropological Linguistics, 23)

What allows certain individuals and groups to maintain control over the actions and lives of others? Linguistic anthropologist Elizabeth Keating went to the island of Pohnpei, in Micronesia, and studied how people use language and other semiotic codes to reproduce and manipulate status differences. The result is this inside view of how language works to create power and social inequality. This book challenges widely held theories on the nature of social stratification, including women's roles in creating hierarchy. Contents......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 1. The Ethnographic Setting......Page 29 2. What Are Honorifics?......Page 48 3. Paths and Regions in Honorific Speech: Hierarchy of Place and Access to Status......Page 79 4. Honorific Possession: Grammatical Relations of Control and Permanence......Page 110 5. Women's Power Etiquette: Relationships between Gender and Honorifics......Page 133 6. Positioned Knowledge: Constructing Asymmetrical Epistemologies......Page 166 7. Valuing Stratification: Honor in Oratory and Feasting Practices......Page 189 Conclusion......Page 206 Bibliography......Page 210 C......Page 222 H......Page 223 P......Page 224 Y......Page 225 This text challenges theories on the nature of social stratification. The author went to Pohnpei and studied how people use language and other semiotic codes to reproduce and manipulate status differences. The result is this view of how language works to create power and social inequality.