Papers by Dr Kirsty Rowan
Languages, May 21, 2024
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
The construction in Egyptian Nubia of the Aswan High Dam in the mid-twentieth century motivated t... more The construction in Egyptian Nubia of the Aswan High Dam in the mid-twentieth century motivated the biggest rescue operation of tangible heritage that has ever been undertaken in the world. However, no comparable focus was accorded to Nubia's intangible heritage, albeit a small team of ethnographers salvaged what they could in a very short amount of time. Nubia is an ancient land that stretches from the first cataract of the river Nile in Egypt to roughly the fourth cataract in the Republic of Sudan. At each of these cataracts there has been, and will be the construction of dams, which will result in the loss of the majority of the natural, material and cultural landscape of Nubia. Knowing how detrimental dam construction, and its concomitant displacement of the inhabitants, is to the continuity of their culture, the Nubians are initiating urgent safeguarding practices in response. These initiatives are assisted by a project team in the documentation, protection and promotion of Nubian languages and intangible heritage. This paper presents some of these current initiatives and highlights how the project fosters capacity for the Nubian community to act to keep their heritage alive.
BRILL eBooks, 2013
Resistance to syncope in certain data from Arabic dialects motivated the proposal for antigeminat... more Resistance to syncope in certain data from Arabic dialects motivated the proposal for antigemination as a function of the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP). More recent revisions to the OCP as being operative in this phonological process have claimed that the non-application of syncope is due to homophony avoidance or resistance to paradigm collapse. The present analysis considers the importance of the morphosemantic properties of the forms which block syncope. The approach seeks to unify the targets of resistance to syncope (Forms II and III) in the discussion of gemination as encoding plurality. The cross-linguistic implications for the claims made here is that phonological processes will be prohibited from applying if their application results in morphosemantic information being jeopardised. This study investigates the problem of antigemination in certain Arabic dialects. I put forward the view that any proposal for the occurrence of antigemination should not be purely formally driven within an isolated phonological framework, but should also address a systematic study into the morphosemantic properties of the particular forms. This is dependent on acknowledging that there is a morphosemantic association between the verbal forms II and III, with particular reference to the reduplicative structure exhibited by geminate consonants and lengthened vowels. While this paper is not meant to be an exhaustive account of the morphosemantic or morphosyntactic properties of the Arabic verbs, I try to highlight the issue that considerations on these properties are dependent for an explanation of antigemination.
Language in Society, Mar 21, 2016
This article is an examination of the interaction between evangelists and participants of a demon... more This article is an examination of the interaction between evangelists and participants of a demonic deliverance (exorcism) ceremony in a London, UK Pentecostal church. The data is taken from an online recording and transcribed using conversation analysis conventions. A familiar feature of exorcism practice is the initial demand for the demon's identity. This study suggests that the importance of asking this question is due to it being procedurally strategic in modelling a performative path of the deliverance ceremony, which results in ritual efficacy. In particular, it is proposed that the omission of the question asking for the identity of the demon causes the deliverance path to become temporarily disrupted. This disruption is the result of a loss of thematic mapping between adverse life events and the causal agency within this specific sphere of sociocultural activity. (Religion, exorcism, possession, diaspora, spirits)*
Mental Health, Religion & Culture, Jul 3, 2015
Experiences of demonic possession are on the increase in the UK. The presentation of possession a... more Experiences of demonic possession are on the increase in the UK. The presentation of possession appears strikingly similar to psychopathologies. Yet while the DSM-V includes the importance of interpreting psychotic phenomena in relation to the cultural practices of the individual presenting, there remains a lack of experiential accounts of possession. This study provides a phenomenological account of 17 individuals participating in a Pentecostal deliverance ceremony and their descriptions of discerning demon possession, undergoing exorcism/deliverance, and their condition immediately following. There was strong convergence on the discernment of demon possession through nightmares, in the thematic context of the dreams and the mapping of the content to adversity in their lives, which in turn reinforces the discernment. These experiential accounts were also characterised by a loss of control during possession and accompanied by a lack of amnesia post-deliverance. These accounts are discussed in relation to the disentangling of spiritual experience and psychopathologies.
The phonological identity of certain Meroitic signs has needed further investigation as previous ... more The phonological identity of certain Meroitic signs has needed further investigation as previous evidence from correspondent forms has either been scarce or contradictory, leading to varying claims as to these signs‟ sound value. This paper presents an investigation into the Meroitic signs and which analyses the occurrences of these signs in combination with certain vocalic signs. It is shown that evidence from phonology and typological processes gives strong indications that Meroitic possessed a series of uvular consonants.
Multilingual Matters eBooks, Dec 31, 2021
Spirit Possession in Religious and Cultural Contexts, 2020
This thesis is a study into certain areas of Meroitic phonology. The Meroitic language was spoken... more This thesis is a study into certain areas of Meroitic phonology. The Meroitic language was spoken in an area that encompasses modern day Nubia (southern Egypt to northern Sudan). Evidence for the Meroitic language is only known through the survival of its inscriptions, whereby two forms are used to write these: hieroglyphic and cursive, both heavily borrowed from the Ancient Egyptian writing system. The Meroitic language has only been partially deciphered; Griffith (1911) established approximations for the signs' sound values, along with identifying a handful of lexical items. Progress into the decipherment of the language has been seriously hampered by the lack of any bilingual texts, and more importantly, a lack of evidence for a genetic affiliation with an existing language or language family. This thesis concentrates on investigating the traditional representations given for the phonemic values of the Meroitic signs. The methods used for investigating this are: firstly, thro...
Research into the classification of Meroitic within a language family has consistently
The Nubian languages and associated socio-cultural knowledge are facing endangerment. The forced ... more The Nubian languages and associated socio-cultural knowledge are facing endangerment. The forced displacement of Nubian communities through prior and projected dam building programmes on the river Nile will result in Nubian having the same extinct status as Meroitic within a few generations. However, successful cases of reversing language shift are motivated by the notions of community and identity. This paper discusses the typical criteria used for assessments of language endangerment and argues that these are mostly irrelevant and redundant for Nubian. This paper also presents the methods involved in a programme of revitalisation driven by the Nubian community. This revitalisation programme is supported by a documentation project which complements and assists the Nubians' initiative of safeguarding their languages and living heritage.
The construction in Egyptian Nubia of the Aswan High Dam in the mid-twentieth century motivated t... more The construction in Egyptian Nubia of the Aswan High Dam in the mid-twentieth century motivated the biggest rescue operation of tangible heritage that has ever been undertaken in the world. However, no comparable focus was accorded to Nubia's intangible heritage, albeit a small team of ethnographers salvaged what they could in a very short amount of time. Nubia is an ancient land that stretches from the first cataract of the river Nile in Egypt to roughly the fourth cataract in the Republic of Sudan. At each of these cataracts there has been, and will be the construction of dams, which will result in the loss of the majority of the natural, material and cultural landscape of Nubia. Knowing how detrimental dam construction, and its concomitant displacement of the inhabitants, is to the continuity of their culture, the Nubians are initiating urgent safeguarding practices in response. These initiatives are assisted by a project team in the documentation, protection and promotion of...
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Papers by Dr Kirsty Rowan