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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Onomastic synecdoche: the use of proper names of camels in Somali poetry
Author:Andrzejewski, B.W.ISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere: Schriftenreihe des Kölner Instituts für Afrikanistik
Issue:39
Pages:69-80
Language:English
Geographic term:Somalia
Subjects:oral poetry
camels
plant names
Somali language
Abstract:In the large repertoire of stylistic devices employed by Somali poets there are tropes which are closely bound up with the pastoralist way of life and the love of alliteration which pervades Somali culture. Such tropes include onomastic synecdoche in which the literal sense base consists of proper names given by Somali herders to individual domestic animals, especially camels. Somali camel herders have a strong emotional attachment to their camels and when a camel name which belongs to the traditional onomasticon of that species is mentioned, it conjures up for them many positive associations. Onomastic synecdoche has no special morphological or syntactic exponents but it has what may be described as a prosodic marker. This consists of the fact that the proper name involved in the trope is a bearer of the dominant alliterative sound of the poem. Somali poetry consists of 'all-through' interline alliteration and quantitative scansion patterns. The Somali poet has to find numerous alliterative words for his poem, sometimes amounting to 300 or more, which at the same time must fit into the scansion pattern of the genre he employs. In the face of such pressure, the rich onomasticon of camel names comes swiftly to his aid. Bibliogr.
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