SIGNS IN SOCIETY - STIBA Malang

194 I Notes to pages 36-48
Notes to pages 50—6z I 195
5. For the definition of the symbol see, e.g., CP 2.2.21, 1903; CP 2.249, r 9°3; CP
2.174, 1902; CP 1.195, 1893; CP 1.197-301, 1895, CP 1.307, 1901; CP 3.360, 1885; CP
4.57,1893; CP 4.500, 1903; CP 8.109, 1 9°3! NEM 3.407, 1903; NEM 3.887, 1908; NEM
4.143, 1904; SS 33, 1906; SS 79, 1908; MS 7.7; MS 198.13, 1905.
6. The shape of the inverted Y figure is borrowed from illustrations Peirce himself uses
to illustrate his manuscripts; see MS 7.13, CP 4.310, 1901, in which Peirce notes: "All that
spring from theA—an emblem of fertility in comparison to which the holy phallus of religion's
youth is a poor stick indeed."
7. The use of the term "reason" in the first sentence of this quotation meaning "according
to a principle" or "following a rule" is an important index of Peirce's gradually shifting
perspective. In 1885 Peirce used the word "reason" to describe the relationship between sign
and thing signified in the case of iconic signs, that is, as meaning a possible quality. In 1895
"reason" is equated with thought as genuine "triplicity" and as "mediating third" (MS 13).
8. There is a tendency, especially in Peirce's letters to Lady Welby, for confusion between
marked and unmarked senses of the term "sign." In the marked sense, sign refers to the representamen
or sign vehicle, that is, to the expressive and perceptible aspects of some object
functioning semiotically; in the unmarked sense, sign refers to the complete sign relation taken
as the irreducible triadic system of representamen, object, and interprétant.
9. On the dialogic nature of thought see CP 4.7, c.1906; NEM 3.835, 1905; NEM
3.866; NEM 3.407, 1903; MS 197.7; MS 196.11; MS 637.18: MS 803.3.
10. The doctrine of "medium of communication" is discussed additionally in SS 196,
1906; MS 183.105^ 1905-1906. In a review of Baldwin's Thought and Things Peirce notes
that a sign is "the medium between two minds or between an object and an idea" (1907:104).
11. The same metaphor is used in another manuscript: "Thought is nothing but a tissue
of signs. The objects concerning which thought is occupied are signs. To try to strip off the
signs and get down to the very meaning itself is like trying to peel an onion and get down to
the very onion itself" (MS 1334, 1905).
11. The etymology of "mediation," "middle," is not, however, linked to the verb "to
mean" (Pelc 1981:7).
13. Peirce's enterprise reverses the Saussurean concept of proportionality of expression
and sense. As Peirce noted: "Grammatical forms and logical forms are entirely different. The
grammatical form depends on the expression; the logical form depends on the sense" (W 1.154,
1865).
3. Transactional Symbolism in Belauan Mortuary Rites
I. I adopt the convention of putting into quotation marks the initial occurrence of English
words and phrases selected to gloss Belauan expressions. AH subsequent uses of the English
forms should be understood to stand for the Belauan words. Kinship terms, such as
brother and sister, son and daughter, are to be taken in the Belauan sense and should not be
thought to indicate a necessary biological link. Quotations from villagers are marked F and M
for female and male. The ethnographic present is 1978—80.
1. Without broaching the complex question of whether to describe Belauan kinship in
terms of matrilineages or according to the indigenous notion of "houses" (see Parmentier
1984), it is sufficient to note that there is a clear ranking of kinship ties among "offspring of
women" (ochell) over ties among "offspring of men" (ulechell).
3. The ethnographic descriptions which follow are based on my own attendance at two
funerals in Koror and six funerals in Ngeremlengui (located on the western coast of Babeldaob
island) in 1978—80. Additional information on Belauan mortuary rites can be found in the
ethnographic record covering the past two hundred years. The most important of these sources
are: Keate 1788:163-64 (based on Mr. Sharp's attendance at the funeral of the son of
Rechucher of Koror in 1783); Barnard 1980:29 (based on his attendance at a funeral in Ngebiul
in 1832); Semper 1981:87-91 (based on his attendance at the funeral for Mad's sister in
Ngebuked, 1861), 175-76 (based on his observation of preparations for the funeral of Reklai
Okerangel in Melekeok in 1861, which he did not himself attend); Kubary 1873:188,130—31,
1885:57-58, 1900a (based on his participation in many funerals in Koror and Melekeok in
1871-71, during a devastating influenza epidemic, and in 1882-83); Kramer 1917-29,
3:350-59 (based on his attendance at the funeral of Adelbai, a low-ranking titleholder from
Ngeremid, in 1909); Barnett 1949:135-49 (based on his attendance at the funeral of a tenyear-old
boy from Chelab in 1948); and DeV. R. Smith 1983:277—300 (based on her participation
in five funerals in Melekeok in 1972-73).
4. Close male friends of this eldest child often put out the announcement on behalf of
"one of us." I was particularly struck by one such message issued by the surviving husband of
a deceased woman, which made no direct mention of her death; rather, the message stated that
the husband "had capsized."
5. Also, pulverized turmeric is used as a strength-inducing anointment for bodies of warriors
(see Parmentier 19878:281—83) as well as for young women during post-childbirth celebrations
(see DeV. R. Smith 1983:171).
6. Force and Force (1971:108) describe an unusual situation they heard about in
Ngchesar district, where a rival faction within a house interrupted the burial rite by violating
the imposed silence; the disruption ended only when a titleholder from the other faction paid
a male valuable to the rowdy group.
7. I saw these two words, along with the names of the givers, scribbled on food packages
stacked in the cooking areas of mourning houses. It is not the case that all spouses of men bring
ngeliokl, since the wives of the husband's brothers and the wives of his sons all contribute chelungel.
8. This procedure is labeled merasm a bldokl, after the word rasm "thatching needle."
9. Because of the extreme sacredness {meang) of this platform, it is never used twice but
is taken to the mangrove channel, broken into pieces, and discarded.
10. Called the Tet (Handbag) of Olsecheluib, this stone coffin rests today next to the
Belau Museum in Koror.
11. There is understandable confusion in the ethnographic literature because this word,
which is simply the term for boat or ship, resembles dial, the third-person-singular possessive
of dm "title."
11. I never heard this word, kekur, yet I was told that it referred to a spoon made out of
turtleshell.
13. For a remarkable photograph of the seating arrangement of a funeral in 1909 see
Krämer 1917—19, 3:plate 20.
14. Cf. Krämer 1917-29, 3:354. The mur-ieast and ora«-valuable are allusions to two
transactions in which a woman becomes the conduit of money from her husband to her brothers
or mother's brother. A woman's social standing is, in part, measured by the value of these
affinal contributions.
15. The symbolism here is complex. A male chiefly title is known as dm, which is the
word for coconut frond, the idea being that a high-ranking man "carries the title" (meluchel
a dui) on his head. In this portion of the rite, the coconut frond is wrapped in a wild taro leaf
(dudek el bisech), since this is the same word for the white-tailed tropic bird (dudek), known
to be a particularly strong flier. The connection between the bird and the title is made in a
well-known story of a contest to seize the coconut frond title.
16. At one funeral I attended, the female children of the deceased woman also collected
cash and contributed it as a lump sum to the total collected by the men.
17. Kubary adds that the spirit which caused the death carries off the sis plant.