A dog pissing at the edge of a path : animal metaphors in an eastern Indonesian society / Gregory Forth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forth, Gregory, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human-animal relationships.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (405 pages)

Place of Publication:

Montreal, Quebec : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2019.

Summary:

The Nage people of the eastern Indonesian island of Flores refer to someone who begins something but is regularly distracted by other matters as "a dog pissing at the edge of a path." In this first comprehensive study of animal metaphors in a non-Western society, Gregory Forth focuses on how the Nage understand metaphor and use their knowledge of animals to shape specific expressions. Based on extensive field research, A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path explores the meaning and use of over 560 animal metaphors employed by the Nage. Investigating how closely their indigenous concept of pata péle corresponds to the Greek-derived English concept of metaphor, Forth demonstrates that the Nage people understand these figures of speech in the same way as Westerners - namely as conventional ways of speaking about people and objects, not expressions of an essential identity between their animal vehicles and human referents. Theoretically engaging with anthropology's recent ontological turn, the book considers whether metaphors reveal significant differences in conceptions of human-animal relations, the human-animal contrast, and human understanding of other humans in different parts of the world. An incredible catalogue of animal-based linguistic art and Nage verbal conventions, A Dog Pissing at the Edge of a Path illuminates essential features of metaphorical thought everywhere.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Figures and Tables

Preface

Note on Orthography

Introductory Matters

Metaphors and “Metaphor” in Human-Animal Relations

Domestic Mammal Metaphors – and Some Wild Variants

Mammals in Metaphor: Exclusively Wild Kinds

Talking with Birds

Other Non-Mammals in Metaphor: Snakes, Lizards, Fish, Frogs, and More

Metaphors with Bugs: Insects and Other Invertebrates

The Differential Metaphorical Value of Different Animals

Animal Metaphors in Social and Ontological Perspective

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780228000051

022800005X

9780228000044

0228000041

OCLC:

1112702679