Calques

I just purchased a book on linguistics: Linguistics: an introduction by Radford et al. (2009 edition) for my friend Ab.'s reference. It's not in my opinion the best textbook (or introduction for the total beginner), but it was the best of the lot I could find here in Kohima.

In the book, one of the authors writes,

"Sometimes when new concepts are introduced from other societies, the speakers of a particular language may use their own native linguistic resources to coin a new word. These are known as calques.".

The examples given include Irish Gaelic sciath fearthanna 'umbrella' (lit. 'rain shield') and Maori wai mangu 'ink' (lit. 'water black'). Under this definition, Chinese 电脑 'computer' would also be considered a calque because it comprises two morphemes meaning 'electric' and 'brain'.

The problem here is, I always thought a calque referred to the borrowing of a compound word or phrase from another language by translating each individual component of that compound or phrase. Therefore, examples like English flea market from French marché aux puces, French gratte-ciel from English skyscraper or Russian детский сад from German Kindergarten would qualify as calques. (Note that the English word kindergarten isn't considered a calque since it's been borrowed 'wholesale' from German.)

By this definition, the examples cited in Linguistics: an introduction would therefore qualify simply as neologisms, created by compounding morphemes already in the language. Since they are not literal translations of terms from another language, I would be hard-pressed to call them 'calques' - last time I checked I don't call my computer an 'electric brain' or 'electro-brain'.

The Wikipedia page seems to confirm my own definition (with the same French examples I've given above - I'm sure they're the ones commonly used in other linguistics textbooks), but maybe I'm missing something here?

Playing with fire

Christmas is definitely coming soon to Nagaland. Not only are people starting to put up their Christmas lights and stars, but last week before I left Zunheboto, I got to watch the boys living at Ab.'s have a 'little' bonfire.







These boys really aren't scared of fire. Afterwards, I even saw them doing cartwheels in the still glowing cinders.

Kohima sunset

This was the view from my friend's balcony here in Kohima. I had walked out to get my laundry, but ended up running back to my room to grab my camera.






It's been unseasonably wet here these past few weeks. When I was in Zunheboto it rained quite a bit two weeks ago. And here in Kohima in rained non-stop for close to 15 hours yesterday and the day before. I had assumed that the monsoon would've ended a while ago. At least the mist and clouds made for a very pretty sunset.

How to post a wood plate in 12 easy steps

Note: the wood plate (asükhu in Sümi) I'm referring to is a traditional Naga plate with its own stand carved from a single piece of wood (such as teak).

Step 1
Ask at the India Post counter at Kisama during the Hornbill Festival if they have a parcel box large enough for the plate. Receive confirmation that such a box exists and can be sent internationally.

Step 2
Go and purchase a plate at one of the festival stalls (1,200 Rs).

Step 3
Return to the India Post counter to discover that none of the boxes there are large enough. Tell them you will go back to the main post office in Kohima to send the parcel. They tell you that there will be boxes there.

Step 4
Take the plate to the India Post Office in Kohima.

Step 5
Discover that there are no boxes large enough, but the bookshop across the street can help with packaging.

Step 6
Go to the bookshop with the plate and ask them if they have a box (or 'carton' as people usually call them here).

Step 7
Watch as they try to squeeze the plate into a cardboard box that is clearly too small for the plate, then line the inside of the box with styrofoam before trying to squeeze the plate in again, even though the box is already buldging. The box is then tied up and taken away to be wrapped in cloth and stitched up.

Step 8
Wait one hour at the bookshop for the parcel to come back, then watch as they apply red sealing wax all over the parcel. (Optional step: purchase a copy of People magazine to pass the time.)

Step 9
Pay for the packagaing service (250 Rs).

Step 10
Bring the parcel back to the post office and write the addressee's details all over the parcel, along with contact details and 'FRAGILE' and 'HANDLE WITH CARE'.

Step 11
Pay the fee for registered mail (1,000 Rs).

Step 12
PRAY that it gets to the intended destination in one piece!

The package without addressee details etc.

(Mum, if you're reading this, please take a photo of it if / when it arrives before opening it - although I suspect that it might already have been torn open by then.)

Mighty Mithun

Seeing all the signs for 'Nagaland, Land of Festivals', it's pretty clear how the current tourism department is trying to promote the state. (Of course it probably feeds the Indian preconception that all people do here is party and celebrate in tribal outfits - but I won't rant in this post again.)



Instead, what I want to point out is the animal on the poster. It's the state animal, known as a 'mithun' or 'Indian bison'. I would call it a 'gaur', rhyming with both 'power' and 'sour' - apt descriptions of the animal or so I recall from reading Willard Price's Indian Adventure as a kid. According to Wikipedia 'mithun' refers to the domesticated variety, but people here call even the wild ones 'mithun'.

They are pretty massive, being larger than African buffalo. Their skulls adorn many important houses around Nagaland, although nowadays the typical method of execution is a bullet through the forehead so you'll see a little hole at the front. The meat is also eaten - it's no surprise that it tastes like beef, just maybe a bit more gamey. There are a number of different hybrids of cattle and mithun (I have about 5 of their names in Sumi, though I'm not really sure how many combinations are possible - quarter cow, three quarters mithun?).

On our way to Satoi last week, we saw one on the road which ran off as the vehicle passed by. We then saw a group of guys along the road who were presumably going on a hunt for that mithun. On our way back, we spotted another one, but it had an oddly white face and slightly pinkish eyes - like it was albino, but only from the neck up. I caught these on my camera as we were driving by.

Looking a bit like a demon buffalo?

Cultural showcase or cultural zoo?

At the Hornbill Festival, I took this photo of some performers waiting to enter the stage area. Aware that their butts were hanging out of their costumes, I was a little hesitant to take the photo without asking their permission, perhaps being a little too culturally sensitive.

But as at the Ahuna festival, it was a local friend who suggested I take the shot, and I reasoned that this was a performance, these people were in costume and there were going to be cameras all over them in a second anyway.



A few minutes later, while the same performers were getting ready to go onstage, this is what I saw. I think the guy on the left was American, and I heard the guy on the right speaking in French.



Now surely there's a limit to what you can and cannot do with your camera in such situations. I still don't know what to think of these guys. They probably wanted a better angle of the performers for their photo collections, but come on, these are still people here! I suppose it would have been a completely different thing if the performers were actually posing for the photos as well.

Anyway, on the final day of the festival, I saw a tall blond woman walking around the stage perimeter shoving her camera lens in front of people in the audience (while performances were going on). She wasn't alone, there was an Indian guy doing the same thing. It was with a little satisfaction that, as she was photographing the Dimasa performers, one guy asked her stood up and asked for a photo with him using his phone camera. He then dressed her in one of the scarves that the women were wearing, which he took back after the photo had been taken.

I suppose as an obvious foreigner here, she must get quite a lot of stares (I'm sure my friend Lauren can empathise when she's in Nepal), no matter how she's dressed. The man who took a photo of her will probably be showing it off to all his friends for some time to come, the way she'll be showing off her pictures of 'ethnic people' to her friends.

Maybe such events are just meant to be a bit of a zoo for everyone.

Hornbill Festival 2010

Here're a few photos from this year's Hornbill Festival (1 Dec - 7 Dec). It's held every year at this time here in Kohima - though the festival ground itself is in the village of Kisama, which is a bit of a drive to get to and the traffic coming back into Kohima was atrocious both times I went. There were other activities in and around Kohima too, like a night bazaar, the Miss Nagaland 2010 beauty pageant and the Hornbill Rock Contest.

I only made the trip out to Kisama twice given that I was in Zunheboto till the third day of the festival, and had spent most of the fourth day travelling. Anyway, I managed to catch a number of performances on the main stage, see replicas of the morungs (the traditional boys dormitories) of all the major tribes in Nagaland, check out the WWII museum, and even bought Mum that asükhu (wood plate on a stand) that she asked for (the guy at India Post assured me they could deliver it, but I'm having my doubts).

I don't have a lot of commentary on the festival itself. Given the diversity of the performers and performances, I'm finding it a little hard to remember what I saw and the significance of each performance. I don't really mind that many of the performances wouldn't be considered 'authentic' by even a lay anthropologist, since the festival gives the numerous cultural associations around the state a chance to showcase some of the traditional songs, dances and games that they're trying to maintain. (I'm saving other criticisms I have for another post.)

One of the entrances to the festival grounds


Participants waiting to perform


Pochury women, having just played a traditional game of catch


A nice touch on the last day of the festival