Introduction

This paper explores the etiquette used for communicating with the spirits among the Kodi people of west Sumba. It examines speech rules and forms of address in order to discern an underlying division within Kodi cosmology and the hierarchical structure to which it is related. The focus is on the Kodi articulation of the universe as made up of both natural and supernatural interlocutors who must be approached in a specific manner, and whose relations to each other are structured and expressed in language. These relations may variously be cast in the metaphors of parent to child, host to guest, speaker to messenger, companion to companion, and intermediate authority to supreme power. In each of the various contexts of ritual interactions certain kinds of relationship are stressed, and there is a discernible pattern which distinguishes the types of spiritual being addressed and the style of interaction appropriate for each. I shall argue that this pattern is worked out in relation to the cultural boundary between the forces of the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, and I shall then present the style of ritual etiquette which is appropriate for each. In a final sense, this paper is an effort to arrive at more general ideas of social and cosmic order through an examination of the use of ritual language and its constitutive principles. Although the use of formal language is not strictly confined to communications with the spirit world, this paper will treat it primarily within that context, as this is where its traditional patterns remain most salient in the still largely unconverted communities of west Sumba.