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omnipoetics:malinowski [2025/04/24 00:53] – [Bronislaw Malinowski] maryomnipoetics:malinowski [2025/04/24 00:58] (current) – [Weirdness and Language] mary
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 The Trobriand language is called Kilivila (or Kiriwina). The speakers of Kilivila believe that magic is deeply tied to the language with specific words or phrases in particular contexts like harvest, fertility, and wellbeing. In other words, Kilivila speakers believe in the power of magic that resides within the words themselves when spoken correctly in specific contexts.  The Trobriand language is called Kilivila (or Kiriwina). The speakers of Kilivila believe that magic is deeply tied to the language with specific words or phrases in particular contexts like harvest, fertility, and wellbeing. In other words, Kilivila speakers believe in the power of magic that resides within the words themselves when spoken correctly in specific contexts. 
 ==== Weirdness and Language ==== ==== Weirdness and Language ====
-Malinowski begins his article with the imagery of the magician that might be common for someone from the West to picture, and in particular, Malinowski wants his readers to consider when a magician speaks //spells//. For us, these words are part of the act, but they have become part of a cultural lexicon that we understand, even if there is no meaning in it. Part of the issue for those in the West, Malinowski contends, is that "We have seen how this meaning has to be understood in the active pragmatic speech which passes between a group of people engaged in some concerted task; an order given and carried out, an advice or co-ordinating instruction followed" (108). That is not precisely the case of Trobriands, who firmly believe in the magic of particular languages and phrases. For Trobriands, "a spell is a sequence of words, more or less mysterious, handed down from immemorial times and always taught by an accredited magician to his successors" (Malinowski 109). There is context and understanding, but due to different cultural constraints and ideologies, it is difficult to comprehend. We could "translate" these words and these phrases. Still, without context and definition, it will inevitably end in confusion. These words are not meaningless, but because they seem to have little practical, everyday meaning, it is discarded, which Malinowski warns is part of the problem, as language denotes importnat markers of identity or social cohesion- including those past down as spells.+Malinowski begins his article with the imagery of the magician that might be common for someone from the West to picture, and in particular, Malinowski wants his readers to consider when a magician speaks //spells//. For us, these words are part of the act, but they have become part of a cultural lexicon that we understand, even if there is no meaning in it. Part of the issue for those in the West, Malinowski contends, is that "We have seen how this meaning has to be understood in the active pragmatic speech which passes between a group of people engaged in some concerted task; an order given and carried out, an advice or co-ordinating instruction followed." ((Malinowski, Bronislaw. “The Meaning of Meaningless Words and the Coefficient of Weirdness.” //Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Towards an Enthopoetics//, edited by Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, University of California Press, 1983.)) That is not precisely the case of Trobriands, who firmly believe in the magic of particular languages and phrases. For Trobriands, "a spell is a sequence of words, more or less mysterious, handed down from immemorial times and always taught by an accredited magician to his successors." ((Malinowski, Bronislaw. “The Meaning of Meaningless Words and the Coefficient of Weirdness.” //Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Towards an Enthopoetics//, edited by Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, University of California Press, 1983.)) There is context and understanding, but due to different cultural constraints and ideologies, it is difficult to comprehend. We could "translate" these words and these phrases. Still, without context and definition, it will inevitably end in confusion. These words are not meaningless, but because they seem to have little practical, everyday meaning, it is discarded, which Malinowski warns is part of the problem, as language denotes important markers of identity or social cohesion- including those past down as spells.
  
-What makes a word powerful or gives it magic? What is the purpose of reciting words alone to generate an outcome? According to "The Meaning of Meaningless Words and the Coefficient of Weirdness," "The wording of magic is correlated with a very complicated dogmatic system, with theories about the primeval mystical power of words, about mythological influences, about the faint co-operation of ancestral spirits, and, much more important, about the sympathetic influence of animals, plants, natural forces, and objects" (Malinowski 112). Essentially, there is a formula and reasoning behind these chants- and while we don't quite subscribe to magic words, we still argue for the idea of voicing something to the universe. +What makes a word powerful or gives it magic? What is the purpose of reciting words alone to generate an outcome? According to "The Meaning of Meaningless Words and the Coefficient of Weirdness," "The wording of magic is correlated with a very complicated dogmatic system, with theories about the primeval mystical power of words, about mythological influences, about the faint co-operation of ancestral spirits, and, much more important, about the sympathetic influence of animals, plants, natural forces, and objects." ((Malinowski, Bronislaw. “The Meaning of Meaningless Words and the Coefficient of Weirdness.” //Symposium of the Whole: A Range of Discourse Towards an Enthopoetics//, edited by Jerome and Diane Rothenberg, University of California Press, 1983.)) Essentially, there is a formula and reasoning behind these chants- and while we don't quite subscribe to magic words, we still argue for the idea of voicing something to the universe. 
  
 === The Power of Strange Words in Culture === === The Power of Strange Words in Culture ===
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 In many cultures, powerful words are not always easy to understand. Religious prayers, magic spells, and even legal or political language often use words that feel complex or secret. This makes the words seem more important because only certain people know how to use them. Malinowski’s idea shows that language is not only for communication—it can also influence, connect, and control people in unique ways. In many cultures, powerful words are not always easy to understand. Religious prayers, magic spells, and even legal or political language often use words that feel complex or secret. This makes the words seem more important because only certain people know how to use them. Malinowski’s idea shows that language is not only for communication—it can also influence, connect, and control people in unique ways.
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 +{{tag>Essay Ritual Papua New_Guinea Symposium_Of_The_Whole}}
  
  
  

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