Categorization of Objects: Dyirbal System

1. 348 Knowl Repre & Categ – part 3

2. Ethan D – Anna V – Jeff W – Samson M – Jacob V – Jacqueline S Living things: Kangaroos fireflies fishes scorpions possums birds crickets snakes women men bees dogs trees body-parts edible-fruit grass Man-made: spears cigarettes wine fire cake Sky-objects: moon sun stars rainbow Thunderstorm things: water noises wind mud Perry G – Janie W – Adam P – Kyle M – Matt M Animals: kangaroos fireflies fishes scorpions possums birds crickets snakes women men bees dogs Food/consumption: water cigarettes edible-fruits wine cake Uses: spears body-parts cigarettes noises Environment/elements: water fire wind mud sun rainbows moon trees grass stars

3. Rachel H – Bethany C – Alisha O – Mason K – Rebecca M – Sonda S – Allyson S Animals: kangaroos fishes scorpions possums birds crickets snakes women men bees dogs Romantic Fri night: moon body-parts wine fireflies noises crickets fire stars cigarettes Earth/elements: water trees rainbows sun grass wind mud Hunter/gatherer b’day party: cake spears edible-fruit Daniell J – Sara R – Kristy H – Cari J – Brittany B – Megan M – Lauren W Syllables 1:spears trees birds wine bees grass snakes fire dogs men stars cake wind mud 2: fireflies the-moon water fishes possums rainbows the-sun crickets women noises 3: kangaroos scorpions cigarettes body-parts 4: edible-fruit

4. Katie E – Jusitine B – Grant C – Lisa D – Rachel L Animals: kangaroos fishes scorpions possums birds crickets snakes women men bees dogs Untouchables: moon sun rainbows wind noises stars fire Nature things: trees water grass mud edible-fruits body-parts Man-made: spears cigarettes wine cake Rachel T – Amy A – Jennifer G – Lexi H – Megan N – Robert F Natural phenomena: moon water trees rainbows sun grass stars wind mud fire edible-fruit noises Created things: cigarettes spears wine cake Creatures: kangaroos possums dogs bees crickets fishes birds fireflies scorpions snakes Humans: women men body-parts

5. Living thingsMan-made T’storm obj’sSky-objects AnimalsFood/consumEnviro/ele’s Uses AnimalsRomantic Fri Earth/elemsHunter-Gathr b’day party AnimalsMan-madeNature thingsUntouchables CreaturesCreated thingsNat’l phenomHumans Syl 1 Syl 2 Syl 3 Syl 4

6. Whenever a Dyirbal speaker uses a noun in a sentence, the noun must be preceded by a variant of one of four words: bayi, balan, balam, bala. These words classify all objects in the Dyirbal universe. Here is a brief version of the Dyirbal classification of objects, as described by R.M.W. Dixon (1982): Bayi: men, kangaroos, possums, bats, most snakes, most fishes, some birds, most insects, the moon, storms, rainbows, boomerangs, some spears, etc. Balan: women, anything connected with water or fire, bandicoots, dogs, platypus, echidna, some snakes, some fishes, most birds, fireflies, scorpions, crickets, the stars, shields, some spears, some trees, etc. Balam: all edible fruit and the plants that bear them, tubers, ferns, honey, cigarettes, wine, cake. Bala: parts of the body, meat, bees, wind, yamsticks, some spears, most trees, grass, mud, stones, noises, language, etc.

7. How are instances placed in the four categories? Clearly NOT merely on defining principles, similarity, etc as we might do it. Lakoff proposes three principles of categorization: --Domain of experience principle: things that are experienced in the same way are categorized together. --Myth and belief principle: things that are linked by myth or belief are categorized together. --Important property principle: things that have an important common property are categorized together.

8. Some Dyirbal examples: Generally, the four categories reflect the following: Bayi = male, most animals, the moon Balan = female, the sun, stars, water Balam = most fruits/plants, consumables Bala = everything else

9. So How do women, fire, & dangerous things all end up in balan? Balan = female, hence women belong here (common experience principle) The sun is balan because it is the wife to the moon (myth & belief principle) Fire is related to the sun (common experience) so it too is balan Fire is also dangerous, so dangerous things are also balan (important property principle) A couple of other points: Birds are balan because all birds are spirits of deceased women Since the moon is the husband to the sun, the moon is male and thus is bayi Clearly we’d have to know the specifics of Dyirbal culture to understand many of the details of their categorizations! Hint of things to come: if categorization varies with culture, perhaps categorization is more complex than we traditionally have thought . . .

10. Excerpt from Women, Fire and Dangerous Things -- George Lakoff, 1987, Univ. of Chicago Press -- CHAPTER ONE The Importance of Categorization Many readers, I suspect, will take the title of this book as suggesting that women, fire, and dangerous things have something in common--say, that women are fiery and dangerous. Most feminists I've mentioned it to have loved the title for that reason, though some have hated it for the same reason. But the chain of inference--from conjunction to categorization to commonality--is the norm. The inference is based on the common idea of what it means to be in the same category: things are categorized together on the basis of what they have in common. The classical view that categories are based on shared properties is not entirely wrong. We often do categorize things on that basis. But that is only a small part of the story. In recent years it has become clear that categorization is far more complex than that. ... One of our goals is to survey the complexities of the way people really categorize. For example, the title of this book was inspired by the Australian aboriginal language Dyirbal, which has a category, balan, that actually includes women, fire, and dangerous things. It also includes birds that are not dangerous, as well as exceptional animals, such as the platypus, bandicoot, and echidna.

11. Categorization is not a matter to be taken lightly. There is nothing more basic than categorization to our thought, perception, action, and speech . . . Without the ability to categorize, we could not function at all, either in the physical world or in our social and intellectual lives. An understanding of how we categorize is central to any understanding of how we think and how we function, and therefore central to an understanding of what makes us human. From the time of Aristotle to the later work of Wittgenstein, categories were thought be well understood and unproblematic. They were assumed to be abstract containers, with things either inside or outside the category. Things were assumed to be in the same category if and only if they had certain properties in common. And the properties they had in common were taken as defining the category.

12. This classical theory was not the result of empirical study. It was not even a subject of major debate. It was a philosophical position arrived at on the basis of a priori speculation. Over the centuries it simply became part of the background assumptions taken for granted in most scholarly disciplines. In fact, until very recently, the classical theory of categories was not even thought of as a theory. It was taught in most disciplines not as an empirical hypothesis but as an unquestionable, definitional truth. In a remarkably short time, all that has changed. Categorization has moved from the background to center stage because of empirical studies in a wide range of disciplines.

13. Within cognitive psychology, categorization has become a major field of study, thanks primarily to the pioneering work of Eleanor Rosch, who made categorization an issue. She focused on two implications of the classical theory: First, if categories are defined only by properties that all members share, then no members should be better examples of the category than any other members. Second, if categories are defined only by properties inherent in the members, then categories should be independent of the peculiarities of any beings doing the categorizing; that is, they should not involve such matters as human neurophysiology, human body movement, and specific human capacities to perceive, to form mental images, to learn and remember, to organize the things learned, and to communicate efficiently. Rosch observed that studies by herself and others demonstrated that categories, in general, have best examples (called "prototypes") and that all of the specifically human capacities just mentioned do play a role in categorization. [End Lakoff quotation]

14. End Part 3