UTTERANCE OVERLAP AND LONG SILENCE AMONG THE BAKA

AfricanStudyMonographs,Suppl.26:103-121,March2001103UTTERANCEOVERLAPANDLONGSILENCEAMONGTHEBAKAPYGMIES:COMPARISONWITHBANTUFARMERSANDJAPANESEUNIVERSITYSTUDENTSDaijiKIMURACenterforAfricanAreaStudies,KyotoUniversityABSTRACTThetemporalstructureofconversationwasstudiedamongtheBakaPyg-miesinsoutheasternCameroon,incomparisonwiththoseoftheadjacentBakwele(Bantufarmer),andJapaneseuniversitystudents.Atimesamplingmethodwasappliedtoan-alyzeutteranceoverlappatterns.InBakaconversation,utteranceoverlapwasnotusedstrategicallytotakeconversationalturns,butratheraformofbehavioralsynchronization.Similarly,longsilencewasnotafailureintheturn-taking,norindicationofthetermi-nationofaconversation,boundaryofasentence,orpoliteness,butcanberegardedasa“modeofco-presence.”TheBakacanco-presentwithoutcontinuousmutualutterance,probablybecausetheyliveina“high-context”situation.KeyWords:BakaPygmies;Conversation;Turn-taking;Utteranceoverlap;LongsilenceINTRODUCTIONConversationisoneofthemostcommonmediuminhumansocialinteraction.Asforthestudyofconversationinanthropology,therehavebeentwotrends.Oneisanapproachinsociolinguisticsorethnographyofspeech(e.g.Hymes,1974),inwhichaconversationalstyleistreatedasavariablewhichexplainssocialorder.Forexample,differencesinpolitenessintwosocietiesisexplainedbytheusageoftermsofrespect.Ontheotherhand,conversationanalysis(CA)descendedfromphenomenologicalsociology,focusesontheinteractionalstructureofconversationitself(e.g.Sacksetal.,1974).However,CAhasbeenmainlyappliedinWesternsocieties,andfewanthropologicalworkapplyCA(Moerman,1988;Sugawara,1991;Kimura,1990,1991).Inthispaper,IanalyzetwospecificconversationalcharacteristicsofutteranceoverlapandlongsilenceamongtheBakaPygmiesinsoutheasternCameroon(Fig.1),usingaCAframework.AccordingtoCA,bothutteranceoverlapandsilenceareminimizedinusualconversationsinWesternsocieties.Thisprincipleentailstheconversationalsystemcalled“turn-taking.”IntheBakasociety,how-ever,overlapandsilencearequitefrequentlyobserved.Thisfindingmaybeacounterexampleagainsttheuniversalityofturn-takingconversationalsystemsinhumansocieties,aswellasbasicdatatounderstandheprinciplesofsocialinter-actionofhunter-gatherers,includingtheBaka.104D.KIMURAFig.1.Studyarea.Fig.2.SightofaBaka’svillage.Tostudythetemporalstructureofconversation,Iemployedthetime-samplingmethod,whichiscommonlyusedinethology(Martin&Bateson,1986).Forcomparativeanalysis,Ialsoobservedtwootherethnicgroups;theBakweleBantu-speakingfarmerslivinginthesameareaastheBaka,andJapaneseuniversitystu-dents.ThecomparisonofconversationalstylebetweentheBakaandtheBakwelehasbeenalreadyreported(Kimura,1995)inJapanese.ThedataforJapanesewasnewlyaddedforthispaper.Tobegin,IbrieflydescribehowIbecameinterestedintheBakaconversationalsystem.InSeptember1993,twocolleaguesandIconductedanextensivesurveyoftherainforestareaofCameroon(Fig.1).Awell-maintainedandwideroadforlogginghadbeenconstructedthere,andsmalldome-shapedhuts(mongulus)werebuiltalongtheroad(Fig.2).Stoppingatoneofthesehamlets,weaskedtheBakaresidentswhetherwecouldpitchtentsneartheirhuts,andtheyagreed.HavingreadtheworkofColinTurnbull(1961)andmyJapanesecolleagues,Ihadexpectedthattheso-calledPygmypeoplewerelivelyandratherclamorous.However,theirUtteranceOverlapandLongSilenceamongtheBaka105Fig.3.Baka’smbanjo(assemblyhouse).remarkablecalmnessstruckmeatthefirstencounter.Inoticedespeciallythattheirresponsetoourquestionwasalwaysdelayedforaninstant,whencomparedwiththetiminginJapaneseconversation.ThiswasalsoquitedifferentfromthatoftheneighboringBantupeople.Thefollowingyear,IenteredaBakahamletforintensivesurvey.EverydayIattendedthegatheringattheassemblyhouse(mbanjo,Fig.3),andnoticedthatverylongsilencesoccurredfrequently.However,oncethetalkbecameexcited,theirutterancesoverlappedquiteoften.Itremindedmeofthepolyphonyintheirwell-knownsinginganddancing(be).Myintuitionwasthatthesefeatureswerenotonlythecharacteristicoftheirconversation,butalsorelatedcloselytotheirbasicattitudetosocialinteraction.SUBJECTSANDMETHODI.Subjects1.TheBakaTheBakainhabittheborderareaofCameroon,theRepublicofCongo,andtheCentralAfricanRepublic(Fig.1).Thepopulationisestimatedtobe30,000-40,000(Ndii,1968).Theyareoneofthemajorso-calledPygmygroupsintheAfricantropicalrainforest,alongsideoftheAkainCentralAfricanRepublic,andtheMbuti/EfeinEasternDRC(DemocraticRepublicofCongo;formerZaire)(Bahuchet,1993).TheBakalanguagebelongstotheOubanguiangroup(Greenberg,1966),whichisrelativelyremotefromtheBantulanguagegroup.TheBakaareknowntobeahuntingandgatheringpeople.However,inthelast30-40years,theirsubsistencehasshiftedtowardsagricultureandcommer-cialhunting/fishing,andthesedentarizationhasprogressed(Stromayer&Ekobo,1991).Evenso,theystillretaintheirownuniqueculturesuchassingingand106D.KIMURAdancing.Theirattitudetosocialinteraction,whichIanalyzeinthispaper,isalsoquitedifferentfromadjacentBantufarmers.Theintensivefieldstudywasconductedinthevillagecalled“Baka”(1).Itwaslocatedabout60kmupstreamofMoloundou,acentraltownneartheborderofCameroonandRepublicofCongo(Fig.1).Thevillagewascomprisedoftwoclusters.Adj