The Folk Biology of the Tobelo People - Smithsonian Institution ...

NUMBER 34 35
House," "race-horse," and "sidewalk." The heads of these
compounds (House, horse, walk), tf substituted for the
compounds in every sentence in which tiiey occur, wUl be
syntactically acceptable. An exocentric phrase like "at his
farm," on the other hand, has no such substitutable part; die
phrase could instead be replaced by a locative adverb (e.g.,
"there").
One might also use semantic criteria to define endocentricity
(Conklin, 1962; Nida, 1951). Thus whtie "stiverfish" is
morphosyntacticaUy endocentric, it might be considered
semantically exocentric, because a stiverfish is not a type of
'fish.* One might object that this use of the term ignores the
etymological meaning of the word "endocentricity" (which
refers to a phenomenon "centered" or located within the
compound), but tiiis would only be an objection to die use of
the term, not to the distinction being made.
A more serious difficulty witii the distinction, for which I do
not use it here, involves its dependence on hyponymic
(taxonomic) relations. Though applicable to many Tobelo
compounds, tiiis distinction is difficult to apply to many otiiers,
even in a domain consisting only of nouns constructed in a
limited number of ways, such as the set of plant and animal
names.
In many cases, die semantic relationship of the class
designated by a morphosyntacticaUy endocentric Tobelo
compound to tiiat designated by its head is not clear. We would
not want to consider halale ma ngutuku ('bad luck' + [poss.] +
'root') 'bad luck's root' (Oxymitra sp.), so caUed because its
root is used to ward off bad luck brought about by a personal
misdeed, a "semantically endocentric" compound because die
plant class designated is not a class of 'root' But what of
buhuru ma houru (o buhuru 'sweUing in die lower stomach
area' + [poss.] + 'medicine') buhuru's medicine' (a shelf
fungus, not in die FLORAL FORM class), which is used as
medicine for buhuru? Or aunu ma dodogumu ('blood' + [poss.]
+ 'stopper') 'blood stopper' (Ageratum conyzoides L.), used to
stop die flow of blood from a wound? These plants might be
considered subclasses of a class of 'medicine' or stopper,' tiius
"semanticaUy endocentric"; on die odier hand, it might be
considered tiiat only part of the organism is used in tiiese cases
also (as in o halale ma ngutuku above), so they should be
semantically exocentric.
Trying to decide such questions for the many compounds in
die domain considered here can become a metaphysical chase
after die "true natures" of die objects denoted, and seems to
deny language's habit of always singling out specific aspects of
things. Thus even if we call a plant die 'X-plant' this is, in a
way, stiU as incomplete as the 'X-decorative-flower'—the
latter fails to note many other parts of the plant; the former fails
to note that the plant is also food, medicine, and other things,
has certain characteristics, etc.
Finally, it is difficult to include both semantic and
morphosyntactic criteria of endo- and exocentricity in a more
comprehensive classification of lexemic types. Some com­
pounds can clearly be caUed "semanticaUy exocentric" but
"morphosyntacticaUy endocentric," e.g.:
o kuho ma haeke 'kus-kus's head' (type of 'banana')
o totaleo ma uru 'chicken's beak' (type of 'banana')
o karafe ma gumi 'rat's whiskers' Fimbristylis ovata (Burn, f.)
Kern.
o ngohaka ma iyo-iyoko 'baby's feces' Garcinia dulcis (Roxb.)
Kurz.
(The first two examples refer to die shape of die banana fruit
die tiiird (at Loleba) to the whisker-like pairs of opposite leaves
on stems of this fern, die fourth is said to refer to die yeUowish
color of die exuding sap of tiiis tree.)
Other compounds are clearly botii "semanticaUy" and
"morphosyntacticaUy" endocentric, such as die second of each
pair in the examples below.
o ngulu [simple]
o kaho ma ngulu 'dog's ngulu 1
o bidoho [simple]
o tokata ma bi- "ghost's sirih'
doho
Spondias pinnata
(L.f)Kurz
Spondias cf. dulcis
Saoland ex Park,
(several Piper spp.)
'sirih'
Piper caninum Bl.
Botii tiiese examples designate classes of inedible fruits
closely related to edible ones (cf. BurkhiU, 1935:1742, for
Malay term sireh hantu 'ghost sireh' Piper caninum). (Though
a voucher of o kaho ma ngulu has been tentatively identified as
Spondias cf. dulcis, die fruits of plants so designated are not
locaUy considered edible.)
Finally, die following examples wUl iUustrate morphosyntacticaUy
and "semantically" exocentric compounds.
o ngoerua ('dried' + 'not') 'not dried' (a type of 'rice')
o ngofawoe ('chtid' + 'many') '(having) many children'
o kokihua ('have inflorescence' + 'not') '(having) no inflorescence'
('horn plantain')
o lakodoto ('eye' + 'to be sharp') 'eye (is) sharp'
(The first refers to a variety of rice said not to need drying in die
sun before storage; the second refers to a tree tiiat generally has
many sprouts ('chUdren') at die base, and by imitative magic is
considered a cure for childless women; die tiiird refers to die
'horn plantain'; informants consider it ldcely tiiat the fourth
refers to a medicinal use of tiiis plant, though I did not discover
the medicine involved).
Note, however, tiiat it is impossible to have a morphosyntacticaUy
exocentric but "semantically endocentric" Tobelo
compound word, despite die fact tiiat the criteria for determin-