Cultural contact and change in naming practices among the Aari of southwest Ethiopia
When people of different cultures interact, a degree of linguistic and/or cultural adaptation is expected. This paper examines the implication of the relationship between the Aari and the Gama for the naming practices of the former. The Aari people, who speak Araf, came into contact with Amharic-speaking migrants from central and northern Ethiopia (collectively called the Gama) during the southward expansion of Emperor Menelik in the late nineteenth century. Traditionally, the Aari people used names to express their collective history, shared life experiences, major events, and their environment. The incorporation of Aariland into the Ethiopian empire led to economic, political, and cultural domination as well as resistance on the part of the Aari. Personal names that characterize the period of struggle against the dominant migrants became common until the 1974 revolution that ended the Gama hegemony. Afterwards, however, the naming tradition suffered a setback as evidenced in the decline of Aari personal names in favour of Amhara names and the alteration of the spelling and pronunciation of Aari names. The new changes in naming practices compromised the role of the Aari language as an expression of culture and a marker of identity.
Frog, where are you?: the ethnopragmatics of Ibibio death prevention names
This article investigates death prevention names among the Ibibio in south-eastern Nigeria from ethnographic and ethnopragmatic perspectives. Ibibio death prevention names can generate and maintain some level of assurance and security that is vital for a child's survival given the implicit assumption that some kind of spiritual forces are at work. These names are believed to link the name bearer to his/her past, ancestors and spirituality. The article argues that these names are not just ordinary labels or markers of identity but are of immense supernatural relevance, influencing among other things the notion of personhood, ethnocentrism, and celestial events. Ibibio death prevention names are pointers to the Ibibio social universe and cultural experience and give insights into their indigenous values, belief system, attitude, and emotions. The study aims to enrich ongoing dialogue on ethnicity and identity and illuminate the place of onomastics within a broad interdisciplinary spectrum.
The sociolinguistics of personal names: two South African case studies
The relationship between personal naming and sociocultural processes is explored in this article. The approach is broadly comparative, giving attention to differences in the act of naming from one linguistic group in South Africa to another and to the question of change within the naming systems. The central issues raised concern the relationship between name types and namegivers, and between ethnic identity and language. Illustrative data are taken from Northern Sotho and Tswana naming in the urban area and from a Tsonga community in the Eastern Transvaal.