Article
Authenticity of the Sign: Travels of a Lahu Song
RSSI. Recherches sémiotiques. Semiotic inquiry
(2012)
Abstract
This is a paper about a song which requires rather complex semiotic operations to be Lahu. The Wedding Oath song indexes, in different contexts, a desirable modern quality in a pre-modern society, a connection between an ethnic minority group and the modern state which implies obligations toward that ethnic group, and the positive quality of cosmopolitanism as a characteristic of a modern nation state. The nature of authenticity as a feature of these indexical relationships creates the possibility that one might extend Mendoza-Denton’s (2011) concept of “semiotic hitchhiker” to incorporate a non-material feature of a discursive performance.
Keywords
- Lahu song,
- Semiotic hitchhiker
Disciplines
Publication Date
January 1, 2012
DOI
10.7202/1027773ar
Publisher Statement
Tous droits réservés © Association canadienne de sémiotique / Canadian Semiotic Association, 2014
Citation Information
Judith Pine. "Authenticity of the Sign: Travels of a Lahu Song" RSSI. Recherches sémiotiques. Semiotic inquiry Vol. 32 Iss. 1-2-3 (2012) p. 83 - 102 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/judith-pine/6/