Language vs Culture

At the Ahuna festival two weeks ago I met Ab. (click here for her blog). She'd just come back to Zunheboto after spending some time abroad, including a few years in the UK. Importantly, she'd heard about the World Oral Literature Project (WOLP) and had even contacted Mark Turin regarding the documentation of Sumi stories. One of the reasons I'd come back to Zunheboto (apart from the festival) had been to find native speakers who were willing and able to do documentary work on their own language, with the aims of producing a dictionary (and possibly a grammar). Incidentally, I had considered applying to the WOLP for funding as well - mostly so I could return to conduct a few workshops, but I never imagined I'd meet anyone who would be interested in recording texts right now.

So it was incredibly fortunate that I met her here in Zunheboto. We brought up the topic of doing a documentation project with H S R., the chairman of the Sumi Language Academy and the Sumi Cultural Association, who happens to be one of the most respected members of the community. And somehow, in the past week and a half, we've come up with a proposal to document a number of traditional songs and stories. These songs are rarely performed nowadays and only a few members of the older generation are familiar with them and even fewer are able to compose new ones.

We decided to do the project under the auspices of the Sumi Cultural Association, since the project will be looking at activities deemed 'cultural'. Without going into too much detail, we've spent three out of the past five days visting schools and offices (I've lost count of the number) seeking the support of important members of the community both financially and in spirit. I've also had more milk tea and amixi (snacks like biscuits that go with tea) than I would've liked. We're also planning a trip to Kohima later this week to meet with other officials to seek their support (and hopefully I'll be able to see some things at the Hornbill Festival too).

Now there are some members of the community whom I had spoken to about a dictionary project in the hopes that I could find someone to train to use the software and do a basic linguistic analysis of the entries - I personally would prefer a native speaker who can use a computer to do the dictionary than myself since a) I'm not a native speaker of the language b) there are capable young people who are proficient in both English and Sumi and c) there's a lot of administrative trouble for me to physically remain in the state and the country. In any case, no one suitable had been found, so I suggested that once I had secured some funding, we could put an ad up in the paper later next year and that I could return to do the workshops.

That all seemed fine until these same people heard about the documentation project. Suddenly, they're telling me not to forget the dictionary. One person went as far as to say that I should be doing the dictionary, not the 'cultural documentation' project. This is all in spite of my reassurance that such a documentation project will feed into a dictionary - stories and songs are composed of words afterall! So now I find myself in an odd conflict between 'language' and 'culture', which to me is completely ridiculous because they're both so inextricably intertwined.

I'm also not sure what they expect of me with regards to the dictionary. Over the past two weeks, I've had one-two hour sessions with a member of the Sumi Literature Board who's insisted on sitting me down and going through lists of animal names, unsure of their English translations, and simply describing them without any pictures! I've tried to hint that this really isn't the proper methodology for doing a comprehensive study of zoological terms, but apparently there's a list of plant and fruit names coming tomorrow...

At the moment I suppose I have to reassure these people that I'm not abandoning the dictionary (and I'm not), while at the same time looking for ways to implement a long term project even when I'm not physically present, which was the initial goal anyway. Ideally, I'd like to be back next year for 3-4 months, but it'll depend on funding and whether I get permission to remain in the state for that long a period of time.

Potato smasher

The other day I was asked by a shopkeeper,"Khuuno ghami kea?", which translates roughly as 'Which village are you from?' (lit. 'Whose village person (are you)?') The morpheme gha is also found in lagha which translates as 'clan' and mi is a common Tibeto-Burman noun root meaning 'person'.

Since I don't clearly don't have a village (or clan) and didn't really understand the question, my friend kindly replied on my behalf that I was aluchhephomi, much to the amusement of everyone in earshot. The word can be analysed morphologically as alu 'potato', chhepho 'to break asunder' and mi 'person'. So literally, 'potato smasher'. People here jokingly refer to people who don't know which village they (or their family) are from as aluchhephomi, people from this fabled distant village where the inhabitants smash potatoes, as opposed to doing something useful with them, like say... cooking?

Given my clanless and villageless status here, I guess for the timebeing I'm happy to embrace my potato smashing heritage.

What's the meaning of this?

One of the distinctive features of the Sumi language is its uvular stop series - a voiceless unaspirated uvular stop /q/ and a voiced aspirated uvular stop /qh/, which are produced by making a closure in the oral cavity (mouth) using the back of the tongue and the uvula (right at the back of the mouth). Having studied and taught phonetics, I am familiar with the mechanism of producing such stops, though mine are certainly not identical to those produced by native speakers.

Importantly, these uvular stops contrast with the velar stops /k/ and /kh/, meaning that there is a difference in meaning between words like akhi 'bee' and aqhi 'moon'.

I'm still having a lot of trouble asking in Sumi for the meaning of something - one of the most useful questions when you're studying a foreign language. Though there a few ways to do it, most forms go something like this:

Hi ye kiu kiqi kea?

I'd post an audio recording of how I say it, and how it should be said if I could.

Misty Zunheboto

The name Zunheboto, the name of both the town and district where most Sumis live in Nagaland, is derived from the nouns zünhebo ('ü' represents a high central unrounded vowel, and 'nh' a breathy alveolar nasal), which refers to a kind of flowering plant found in the area, and to, which refers to a 'hill' or 'ridge'.

Like most settlements in Nagaland, Zunheboto is located on top of a long ridge (people here tell me it's not a big town, just a 'long' one). Historically, these provided more security in the event of enemy raids, when tribal warfare was still practised for the purpose of taking land or taking heads, or both.







Zunheboto is pretty high in terms of elevation, and around this time of year it tends to get pretty cold (and windy) compared to other places in Nagaland. I'm told also that on a clear day, Mount Everest is visible from some parts of Zunheboto. I remain slightly skeptical because so far people have pointed in a direction that's been either too much to the southwest or northeast.

Of course, clear days here at this time of year are rare. My first few days here, I'd wake up most mornings to find a thick mist blanketing the valley below my lodge.





During the Ahuna festival, it would clear by afternoon, but since I moved to Zh.'s place, it just seems to get misty at all times of the day. The past two days, we've also had some pretty heavy showers at night and in the afternoon.

Well, here's to hoping for clearer skies (and fewer landslides)!

Ahuna Festival (III)

On the second day of the Ahuna Festival cum Road Show (or 'Road Show cum Ahuna'), it was back to the festival ground in the morning. This was actually the officially set date for the festival every year and there seemed to be more guests of honour than the previous day. I vividly recall hearing sirens coming from behind, signalling the arrival of the guest of honour, the Nagaland Minister for School Education Nyeiwang Konyak, who, as his name suggests, is Konyak, not Sumi.

Just when the day looked set for more school performances of war dances and speeches about how the young people need to contribute more to the state, the local sport council, which my friend Zh. is an active member of, put up a performance showing how some of the older sporting / warring traditions would be passed down to younger members of the community.

Older warriors teaching the younger ones how to perform a war dance, which is meant to frighten the enemy. (In truth it was very cute to watch the little boys perform.)





Another war dance


Warriors slicing up pieces of bamboo, which looks easy, but requires a lot of skill with a dao (a kind of knife). I also enjoyed watching the way they leapt after a successful chop. Reminded me a little of Ryu or Ken from the Streetfighter video games.



The traditional head gear of a rich and respected warrior - the headband itself is made from bear fur (taken from the neck of the bear I'm told). Wealthy and respected warriors also had the three hornbill feathers - and unlike most of the ones I saw that were made of cardboard, these ones here are real!



Later in the morning, a couple of traditional games were played. though not as many as in previous years, as I learnt from a DVD about the Ahuna Festival, also kindly gifted to me by Zh. The first game I saw is known as asü ilheche 'high jump'. In this competition, a bit of banana leaf is tied to the top of a spear. The objective is to jump up high enough to kick the banana leaf with both feet at the same time, which I thought was quite impressive.





Competitors awaiting their turn


The second game involved women competing by ululating, which is meant to be a form of encouragement for the male warriors, though it did draw a bit of laughter from the crowd (and the competitors themselves). I'm not quite sure how the judging was carried out though...



Me with Zh., his wife and his cousin


Me with some of the festival organisers.

Hornets for lunch?

As we sitting at one the stalls at the Ahuna festival drinking milk tea and snacking on beef liver and intestines (they do them so well here), I.'s cousin A. asked me if I'd ever tried 'hornets' or 'hornets larvae', I quickly said no. Within seconds, he'd gone up to a lady selling food wrapped in large leaves (the leaves are called aküghü in Sumi) and bought two. When he came back he told me, 'They were out of hornets, this is just fish.'

I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Did I just dodge a bullet, or was he pulling my leg? Not that I would mind trying hornets, I just thought an entire package of them would be a little too much. In any case, he said I didn't have to eat whatever was in the package there and then. So I said I'd wait (till I was somewhere more private).

When I got back to the Heritage tourist lodge (there was a break between the morning and evening programmes), I placed the package on the bed since I had no table inside, and - rather like a leopard - I didn't quite feel like eating in public.

I opened the package to find a small mound of rice, as is the fashion here, with a few pieces of pork fat, and another smaller leaf package.

And lo and behold, there were fish in the small package! They were small, and surprisingly easy to eat, the bones being small and soft. However, I still think some of my friends would be a little grossed out by the way the little fishies were staring at me as I ate them.

So those hornets for lunch will have to wait another day.

Ahuna Festival (II)

In the evening on the first day, it was back to the festival ground for a rather spectacular sunset and the second part of the programme - more songs and dances performed by schools, along with a singing competition and battle of the bands.



Again, I was slightly mortified (though not as much as during the Miss Sumi pageant) to see those same little girls from the Montessori school dancing to Shakira's 'Waka Waka'.



Most importantly, my friend Zh. (whose home I'm staying at this time) and his wife H.'s students were putting up a fashion show featuring Sumi outfits across time. This meant that I had a reason to hang out backstage and getting right to the front of the stage to help Zh. take photos - though I don't think my fashion photography skills are quite up to scratch.

Some of the students trying to keep warm backstage


A Flintstones take on ancient Sumi wear


The headhunter look - I'm currently sleeping in the bedroom where this head prop is being kept. It hasn't really creeped me out so far.


One of the most traditional Sumi costumes for men and women - note the pipe in the woman's mouth


Ignore the boxer shorts here.


A much more modern take on fashion here. (My first time here, I was surprised at how fashionably dressed young people were here) These outfits though aren't exactly casual wear.





This girl, who's apparently only 14 or 15, also worn the solo singing competition that night. She had a great voice.