list of figures - Terry Sunderland

For example, the Anyang of Cameroon, who speak Denya, a language belonging to
the Western Bantu subgroup, use the intermediate category, e-chié, for all canes not
included in the group of large-diameter, heavily armed species of Laccosperma.
However, as commonly the case with intermediate lexicons in other Bantu languages,
this term is polysemous for “cane rope” and is used, in the folk generic sense, to
recognise one highly valuable species of small-diameter rattan in particular,
Eremospatha macrocarpa. All other species of cane in the e-chié intermediate
category are lexically recognised by the Anyang at the folk specific level, even though
many are not actually valued as a source of cane, with the lexical designation often
reflecting kinship metaphors. For example, two other species of Eremospatha, E.
tessmanniana and E. quinquecostulata, are both referred to as calumé-e-chié, “the
uncle of cane rope”, in recognition of the poor quality of the cane of these biological
species. In the same context, E. wendlandiana is referred to the “true” cane rope as
mua-e-chié or “brother to cane rope”. However, two further unrelated taxa, despite
being morphologically distinct, are also referred to in relation to the true cane rope:
Laccosperma opacum; ge-nomé-echié, or “slave to cane rope”: Oncocalamus tuleyi;
moa-e-chié, or an (undefined) “relative to cane rope”.
Box 1. Selected nomencalatural relationships within the Denya language group, Cameroon
calumé-e-chié
(E. tessmanniana &
E. quinquecostulata)
ge-nomé-e-chié
(Laccosperma
opacum
e-chié
(E. macrocarpa)
Further examples of such metaphors include the recognition of related species (yet
separate in biological terms). Laccosperma opacum, a small diameter cane, is called
npue-nkan by the Fang of Equatorial Guinea; it is considered the “child of” true nkan
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mua-e-chié
(E. wendlandiana)
moa-e-chié
(Oncocalamus
tuleyi)