SIGNS IN SOCIETY - STIBA Malang

uz I Comparative Perspectives on Complex Semiotic Processes Tropical Semiotics I 113
For example, the multitiered analogy set up between sexuality, affinity, and consanguinity
is an emergent rather than a static series of substitutions. At every
point in the ritual sequence when one trope "metaphorizes" the previous one,
that previous metaphor is "rendered apparent" or "obvious" (hence "obviation").
Contrary to Weiner's claim (1988:143) that obviation is a semiotic process
working between the hierarchical levels of conventional-P semantic meaning
and metaphors or tropes, the examples he gives clearly demonstrate that obviation
operates entirely within the second level of semiosis as the process by which
innovative usages fragment, deflect, and "differentiate" conventional-N symbols.
Why is exchange such a productive arena for tropic obviation? Exchange is
a collective social activity involving, on the one hand, individuals and social
groups and, on the other hand, symbolically charged mediational objects (food,
wealth items, persons). These activities are organized so that paradigmatic or
categorical oppositions (male vs. female, wife-givers vs. wife-takers) are realized
in syntagmatic interactional contexts. And, more importantly, the syntagms can
be viewed as "forms of discourse" (Weiner 1988:149) that set up sequential substitutions
which constitute equivalences without denying differential values. They
do this in two senses: (1) equivalences between objects given for each other (e.g.,
valuables for wives) or in replacement for each other (e.g., pearl shells for kara'o
oil) and (2) equivalences between analogous exchange scenarios (e.g., intersexual
and affinal). 2 This is, of course, an elaboration of Jakobson's (1987) famous
principle of poetic projection: in poetry, syntagms are broken up into parallel
linguistic segments and create an artificial "projection" of equivalence, usually
restricted to the paradigmatic axis of conventional-P semanticity, into the syntagmatic
axis. Poetry tropically turns language upon itself, since any and all of
its conventional-P features can be the effective source of parallelism. In Foi exchange,
"the artifice of sociality" (Weiner 1988:139) is created in and by the
playing out of an asymmetrical series of transactions in which various media
invoking conventionally-N defined values are rendered contextually equivalent.
Social roles, categories, and groups are, thus, "differentiated" (Wagner
1974:111) through exchange, a process Weiner describes as "the tropic creation
of the Foi moral universe" (1988:149).
Like the fleeting character of poetic equivalence, Foi affinity is an inherently
contextual relationship, since a man and his wife's brother, opposed foci of the
bridewealth transactions that created his marriage, join together in contributing
bridewealth for his male children and share the wealth brought in as a result of
the marriages of his female children. Yet Foi exchanges are subject to the same
potential for "dying" into stale repetition that can be the fate of even the most
creative poetic metaphors. That is, ritual reenactments necessarily encourage the
"collectivizing" tendency of symbolization (Wagner 1978:29). Fortunately, Foi
exchange, considered as an independent semiotic modality, can also become the
metaphorical tenor for a further innovative semiotic vehicle, storytelling.
Tropes and Narrative
The "heart" of Weiner's ethnography is the analysis of Foi tutti "moral stories,"
which display substitutional sequences parallel to those described for exchange
rituals. Weiner and the earlier ethnographer of the region, Francis Edgar
Williams, both note a functional differentiation between two genres of Foi narratives,
namely, amusing stories told for recreational purposes and cultic myths
associated with magical spells. Williams (1977:302—3) divides Foi narratives
into tuni and hetagho. The former are short tales involving nameless characters
and unspecified locales; they are told by both men and women in various social
contexts and are without magical significance. The latter are "true myths" dealing
with "ancient events of fundamental importance and consequently possess a
religious as well as magical meaning" (Williams 1977:303); although these
myths involve named characters associated with cultic roles, these names are suppressed
in performance. This division suggests a connection between the ideology
of texts and the pragmatics of performance such that greater contextual specificity,
including restriction on utterance (secrecy, name suppression), situational
appropriateness (cultic contexts), and contiguity with other discursive forms
(magical spells) correlates with the higher degree of collectivizing symbolization
of "true myths." In contrast, Foi tuni (corresponding to Daribi namu po "moral
tales" studied by Wagner) are acknowledged to be artificial constructions rather
than cosmologically important myths. The Foi stories typically involve fanciful
plots, imaginary characters (giants, ogresses), magical transformations, and colorful
reversals of conventional morality (Weiner 1988:150).
Whether because the contemporary Foi prefer to keep those myths associated
with magical spells secret or because the cultic situation has declined in importance,
Weiner's data consist primarily of the recreational stories. 3 Weiner uses
one story, "The Hornbill Husband," as a methodological demonstration (although
the particular procedures applied in this case are not, in their entirety,
repeated elsewhere in the book). 4 Fundamental to the method is the determination
of a sequence of thematic substitutions or transformations that ( 1 ) move the
plot along its "actional" path and (2) invoke unspoken cultural presuppositions.
No principled criteria are adopted for identifying these tropical substitutions,
which can involve two actions, characters, values, or categories within the text
whose relationship can be metaphorical equivalence (A equals B), transformation
(A into B), negation (A into not-A), substitution (A replaced by B), or transaction
(A for B, B for A) (cf. Todorov 1971:39). In addition, substitutions are identified
in which the second term exists only as an extra-textual presupposition. The
substititions are selected with an eye toward placing them in an interlocking
pattern such that they alternate between those involving relatively conventional-N,
collectively constituted cultural associations (called, following Wagner