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Proverbial dog names of the Baatombu: A strategic alternative to silence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2009

Wendy Schottman
Wendy Schottman
Affiliation:
33, rue Paul Cézanne, 63170 Aubière, France
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Abstract

A theoretical framework is presented to account for various means of indirect verbal communication used by the Baatombu of northern Benin to accomplish face-threatening acts, and a particular technique involving dog names is discussed. By carefully choosing a proverbial name for a puppy, the owner can then, simply by calling the dog, convey a message meant either for a particular neighbor or for anyone who hears it and feels concerned by its content. This diplomatic way of expressing oneself when a difference arises is doubly indirect: (a) The dog's owner makes use of a pseudo-addressee (the dog), and (b) the message is formulated with a proverb, therefore with words of which the owner is not the author. (Animal names, Africa, communicative acts, ethnography of speaking, indirectness, politeness, speech acts)

Type
Research Article
Information
Language in Society , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 1993 , pp. 539 - 554
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

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