<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

This article* presents the transcription, translation, and annotation of an original performance of <italic>hta</italic>, a traditional form of oral poetry in Sgaw, the language of the Pgaz K’Nyau (Karen) people of northern Thailand. This performance was recorded during ethnopoetic fieldwork carried out in two villages in the province of Chiang Rai.2 The <italic>hta</italic> is then analysed to understand the operations of ecopoetic symbolisation that bring particular nonhumans into the domain of human language. This analysis reveals that a metaphorical mode of symbolisation is extensively used throughout the <italic>hta</italic> to overcome human/nonhuman allotopies by means of implicit or explicit semic transformations. This seems to indicate that a naturalistic mode of identification underlies the whole poem, a conclusion that calls into question the essentialising and mythifying portrayal of the Pgaz K’Nyau as pre-modern and animistic indigenous stewards.
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This article* presents the transcription, translation, and annotation of an original performance of hta, a traditional form of oral poetry in Sgaw, the language of the Pgaz K’Nyau (Karen) people of northern Thailand. This performance was recorded during ethnopoetic fieldwork carried out in two villages in the province of Chiang Rai.2 The hta is then analysed to understand the operations of ecopoetic symbolisation that bring particular nonhumans into the domain of human language. This analysis reveals that a metaphorical mode of symbolisation is extensively used throughout the hta to overcome human/nonhuman allotopies by means of implicit or explicit semic transformations. This seems to indicate that a naturalistic mode of identification underlies the whole poem, a conclusion that calls into question the essentialising and mythifying portrayal of the Pgaz K’Nyau as pre-modern and animistic indigenous stewards.

“<italic>Kox Kwai Kauv Kox Kwai</italic> “:1 Ecopoetic Symbolisation in Pgaz K’nyau Oral Poetry

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

“ “: Ecopoetic Symbolisation in Pgaz K’nyau Oral Poetry

This article* presents the transcription, translation, and annotation of an original performance of hta, a traditional form of oral poetry in Sgaw, the...

“Kox Kwai Kauv Kox Kwai “:¹ Ecopoetic Symbolisation in Pgaz K’nyau Oral Poetry

Pubblicato online: 12 giu 2021

Pagine: 103 - 139

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2021-0007

Parole chiave
oral tradition, ethnopoetics, semiotics, ecocriticism, literary devices

© 2021 Ignasi Ribó et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

“Kox Kwai Kauv Kox Kwai “:1 Ecopoetic Symbolisation in Pgaz K’nyau Oral Poetry

Pubblicato online: 12 giu 2021

Pagine: 103 - 139

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2021-0007

Parole chiaveoral tradition, ethnopoetics, semiotics, ecocriticism, literary devices

© 2021 Ignasi Ribó et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

“Kox Kwai Kauv Kox Kwai “:¹ Ecopoetic Symbolisation in Pgaz K’nyau Oral Poetry

Parole chiave
oral tradition, ethnopoetics, semiotics, ecocriticism, literary devices