Cursing expressions in Rayya Tigrinya: Semantic and pragmatic aspects

Abstract

This paper aimed to examine the semantics and pragmatics of cursing expressions in Rayya Tigrinya spoken in the Southern Tigray Zone in Ethiopia. Accordingly, cursing expressions’ literal and contextual meanings performed in various contexts were presented and discussed. The study adopted a descriptive design within a qualitative research approach. Four males and four females altogether eight participants, aged 21–85 years, were selected for the study. The pertinent data were collected from native Rayya Tigrinya speakers via semi-structured interviews, elicitation, and introspection. The gathered data were described and analyzed through linguistic descriptive methods. The findings revealed that all but children irrespective of gender curse their legs, hands, ears, eyes, and tongue, all of which are the basic body parts and their dysfunctions make one dependent, to express guilt and regret for the wrong they have done to themselves or others. However, mothers and elderly women whose curses are believed to be more efficacious and disastrous than men tend to curse themselves to express encouragement and condolence to other people in bad situations. On the other hand, parents and elders curse other individuals seeking punishment, revenge, and justice. To sum up, curses are used for face-saving and face-threatening acts. The curses of health, wealth, lineage, and power are the recurrent themes expounded in the Rayya Tigrinya. In most cases, cursing expressions are also performed calling upon the supernatural power to execute the maledictions, which also makes them religious.

Keywords:

• cursing
• Rayya Tigrinya
• speech acts
• self-cursing
• cursing-others
• supernatural power

1. Introduction

Tigrinya (self-name tɨgrɨɲɲa), along with Ge’ez and Tigre, belongs to the North Ethio-Semitic group (Faber, 1997; Hetzron, 1972; Tesfay, 2002). It is one of the widely spoken Ethio-Semitic languages (Ullendorff, 1985; Voigt, 2011a, 2011b). Girma (2001) also attested, “Tigrinya is the second most widely spoken Semitic language in Ethiopia and the third most widely spoken Semitic language after Arabic and Amharic” (p. 73). Tigrinya uses the Ethiopic or Fidel script and has a subject-object-verb (SOV) word order (Niguss, 2021; Tesfay, 2002). The language is used in education, literature, and media domains (Kogan, 1997; Tesfay, 2002).

The Rayya Tigrinya, which is one of the varieties of Tigrinya, is spoken in the Southern Tigray Zone in Ethiopia. It is distinct from the standard Tigrinya in phonology, morphology, lexicon, and syntax (Dagnew, 2019; Niguss, 2021) though there are scant studies conducted on Tigrinya’s varieties.

Curses are universal phenomena although they vary from one society to another in terms of linguistic expressions and manner of practice. Societies perceive them as powerful tools for positively and negatively affecting their community on different occasions. Similarly, the Rayya people use curses in their day-to-day conversations and express their various social, cultural, religious, political, and psychological make-ups. Besides, there is a long-held and strong belief in the speech community that parents, elders, and religious leaders’ curses have dreadful images on the one who is cursed, and whose curses are also believed to be more efficacious than those of the juniors.

The influence of globalization and seeking modern life has significantly influenced the existential traditional norms of the societies across Ethiopia in general and in Rayya people in particular. Cursing expressions, as one of the aspects of language use, are also in constant change. These “performative speech acts” (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) have not been well studied and properly documented so far although they are powerful tools for social control and maintenance of values, and for this reason, the researcher was intrigued to conduct a study on the issue. This study, therefore, was set out to examine the literal and contextual meanings of cursing expressions in Rayya Tigrinya so that the findings will fill the identified gap and will also contribute to the development of the language.

Following the introduction, the paper presents the literature review, theoretical framework, research methodology, results and discussion, and the conclusion of the whole discussion in each section respectively.

2. Literature review

The term cursing is defined as a “wish for harm or evil on a specific person by attributing the power to the supernatural” (Hughes, 2006, p. 114). According to Sharifi and Amir (2012), cursing is “calling for evil or misfortune to befall someone or something—a type of invocation” (p. 55). Besides, Jay (1992) defines cursing as “breaking a linguistic taboo with the intent to invoke harm on another person” (p. 2).

Curse (vt): to call upon divine or supernatural power to send injury upon.

Curse (n): a prayer or invocation for harm or injury to come to one.

Cursing is classified as “endocentric” or “self-cursing” and “exocentric” or “cursing others” (Baye, 2013, p. 395). Cursing is also categorized and defined as “it is a bad wish for someone else (alter-cursing) or for oneself (ego-cursing)” (Fekede & Fjeld, 2016, p. 363). Moreover, Watson (1991) expounds, “Curses, both public and private, were, according to the conventional wisdom, inevitably fulfilled” (p. 22).

Cursing is traditionally defined as the opposite of blessing. The term is also used interchangeably with swearing, both of which are also called “taboo words” (Jay, 2000). Cursing and swearing are, however, quite distinct in the Rayya Tigrinya where swearing is used for assertion.

Curses are power-oriented in the sense that only those people who have power or status can curse with maximum efficacy. As a tradition, the curses of parents, elders, religious leaders, or clan leaders are thought of as more efficacious than those of the juniors. Baye (2013) also elaborates, “The elderly have chronological power over the young, the Lord has divine power over his creatures; the king has political power over his subjects, and the community assumes collective power over its parts and hence can exercise cursing on its individual or group member” (p. 409).

People fear curses as they have dreadful images when they are uttered. People follow and keep social norms more consciously if “they fear curse as a means of punishment” (Anderson, 1998, p. 226). Mbiti (2002) also explains, “The fear of curses is found in every society because a powerful curse is believed to bring death to the person concerned” (p. 155). According to Anderson (1998), curses are used as “rhetorical threats to prevent behavior which is deemed harmful to the community” (p. 227). Besides, the main purpose of cursing is “deterring deviation of individuals or collective from the mainstream current of society” (Baye, 2013, p. 395).

On the other hand, Watson (1991) describes, “One of the most universally feared curses drew its power, however, not from the authority of the person pronouncing it, but from the circumstances in which it was uttered” (p. 27).

According to Wachege (2003), curses affect everyone irrespective of gender, age, class, education, or other criteria. He explains, “In many African communities, the fear of curses and cursing is real. A curse is a disturbing anguish in life and living. It does not matter whether one is a leader; educated or uneducated; restless youth or an elder; medicine man or a soothsayer; sorcerer or witch; polygamist or monogamist; celibate churchmen and women, or laity; man endowed with virility and fecundity; or woman blessed with femininity cum fruitfulness; pauper or billionaire; a peacemaker or a peace breaker” (p. 1–2)

Likewise, the fear of curses is prevalent in the Rayya people. As a tradition, a person who is cursed by parents, religious leaders, or elderly people will face bad things in his/her whole life.

3. Theoretical framework

A speech act, which has been used as a theoretical framework in this study, is a term first coined and initiated by Austin (1962) and further systematized and developed by Searle (1969), both of whom were pioneers of the theory. The speech act is now applied as one of the theories of linguistics which also analyses “the role of utterances about the behavior of the speaker and hearer in interpersonal communication” (Crystal, 2003, p. 427).

The basic notion of speech act theory is that speakers perform acts when they utter a language. In other words, the language we use has action, intention, and effect on the hearer/interlocutor. According to Austin (1962), three kinds of acts are performed by any utterance. Austin dubbed “locutionary act”, “illocutionary act”, and “perlocutionary act” (p. 99), and he defined them as follows:

1. Locutionary act: the actual form of words, which in this paper are the utterances/expressions the speaker makes to curse and the literal meaning of these utterances.

2. Illocutionary act: what the speaker is doing by uttering those words, which in this paper is the act of cursing and the intended meanings they bring about.

3. Perlocutionary act: the effect or result of the locution. These are the psychological and moral effects (feelings of sadness, pessimism, exclusion, cursing, etc. of the act that is felt by the addressee.

An illocutionary act, which is the intention of the speaker, is the primary interest of many speech act theorists. Accordingly, Austin (1962) pointed out five different types of speech acts based on illocutionary force. These are “verdictives”, “exercitves”, “commissives”, “behabitives”, and “expositives” (p. 151), in which the speech act of cursing is classified in the sub-class of “performatives” which is called “behabitives” and defined as “the notion of reaction to other people’s behavior and fortunes and attitudes and expressions to someone else’s past conduct or imminence conduct” (Austin, 1962, p. 159). On the other hand, Searle (1979) classified speech acts into five groups by saying “declarative”, “commisive”, “assertive”, “expressive”, and “directive”, where he grouped the speech act of cursing under the category of “expressive” of which meaning is “an utterance endeavoring to express a psychological attitude towards the addressee” (p. 10).

In light of the above, cursing locutionary acts, illocutionary acts, and perlocutionary acts in Rayya Tigrinya were presented and analyzed in this study.

4. Research methodology

The main objective of this study was to examine the semantic and pragmatic aspects of cursing expressions in the Rayya Tigrinya language. The study adopted a descriptive design within a qualitative research method. This method was employed since it was found to be feasible to collect pertinent data and to describe and analyze the cursing expressions.

The primary source for this study was Rayya Tigrinya’s native speakers who live in the Southern Tigray Zone in Ethiopia. Other Semitic and Cushitic Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Afan Oromo, Afar, and χamt’aɲa are spoken to various degrees along with Tigrinya in the study area, and for this reason, the Rayya people are bilingual (Niguss, 2021). In other words, there is language contact in the study area. Hence, the researcher employed purposive and snowballing sampling techniques to select a representative area and key informants.

Emba-Hasti, one of the villages found in Enda-Mekoni Woreda, was purposefully selected assuming the dwellers had less language contact, and from which four males and four females altogether eight key informants, ranging from 21–85 years old, were selected for the interview via the purposive and snowballing sampling techniques. To collect the pertinent data, the researcher employed semi-structured interviews, linguistic elicitation, and introspection as primary and supportive tools. The informants were then requested to provide contexts in which curses were made as well as they were interviewed on the topic of cursing and their responses were audio recorded. Besides, the informants were requested to whom they appealed while cursing themselves and others (see Appendix).

As a procedure, the recorded data were transcribed phonemically with IPA, and they were glossed morpheme-by-morpheme. Next, free and/or literal English translations were given. Finally, the transcribed, glossed, and translated data were analyzed thematically and qualitatively.

5. Results and discussion

Curses require actors (the curser and the cursed), and the specific contexts in which they are uttered. In other words, cursing expressions can be identified based on who speaks to whom, and the situation in which they are uttered. Besides, there are causes or reasons why one makes curses oneself or others.

The expressions of self-cursing and cursing-other individuals were presented, described, and analyzed in the two sections. Self-cursing expressions were presented and analyzed in the first section and followed by cursing other individuals in the second one. Besides, the most general and recurrent themes of the expressions were discussed.

5.1. Self-cursing

Youths, adults, and elders, educated and uneducated irrespective of gender tend to curse themselves in different situations for whatever bad they hold responsible. These individuals wish for physical harm to happen or to have happened upon them for the wrong they have done to themselves or others. Below in (1a-c) are given to illustrate self-cursing expressions.

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a. ʔɨgr-əj ham səbər-o [ʃəʋəro] leg-1S.POSS COND break.PFV-3MSO “Had He broken my leg,”

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b. ʕajn-əj ham dələm-o eye-1S.POSS COND blind.PFV-3MSO “Had He blinded my eye,”

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c. məlħas-əj ham χ’orəs’-o tongue-1S.POSS COND cut off.PFV-3MSO “Had He cut off my tongue,”

The speaker in example (1a) curses his/her leg by uttering the locutionary act ʔɨgrəj ham səbəro “Had He broken my leg.” The expression’s illocutionary act implies that the speaker has done bad things to him/herself or others. Hence, he/she curses him/herself by saying “Had He broken my leg, I would have been unable to go to a place to see something horrible or do bad things to myself or others.” The pronoun “He” in the expression refers to “God” whose divine power the speaker calls upon for the bad wish to be effective, which also makes the expression religious. The expression is desiderative, whereby the speaker curses his/her leg that brought him/her to a place where an undesirable thing happened to him/her or someone else, and for which the speaker feels guilty and regretful.

Besides, uttering cursing locutionary acts in (1b-c), the speaker curses his/her eye and tongue. The expression’s illocutionary force inferred that if one had been blind, he/she would have been unable to see bad things, nor would have been able to speak bad things had he/she lost his/her tongue, and for which reason the speaker curses his/her eye and tongue, both of which are means of interactions and channels of communication or production, and their dysfunctions make him/her dependent. Similarly, one also curses his/her hands and ears uttering, “If God broke my hands” and “If God made me deaf” for his/her wrongdoings in Rayya culture. To sum up, in all examples (1a-c), the curses are desirous of the unpleasant things to happen or to have happened for the guilt one holds responsible for. The authority is also attributed to the supernatural in (1a-c) to execute the bad wishes.

There are a few works done on cursing expressions in other Ethiopian languages which converge with Rayya Tigrinya’s self-cursing expressions discussed in (1a-c). Baye (2013), for instance, did on “The imagery of cursing in four Ethiopian languages” in which he described the curses of legs and hands in Amharic and Wolayitta. Fekede and Fjeld (2016) also conducted on the “Social and pragmatic rules of cursing and other routine formulas in Gurage and Norwegian culture” and they pointed out that “men and women curse themselves in different situations in Gurage” (p. 365).

More devastating, one wishes for his/her death for the wrong he/she has done to him/herself or someone else. In other words, a person wishes for total exclusion or elimination from the society he/she has wronged rather than suffering from his/her guilt by uttering the expressions in (2).

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(2) a. ham dəfəʔ-ə-nni COND turn_upside_down.PFV-3MS-1SO “If He had killed me (lit. turned me upside down),”

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b. ham wəsəd-ə-nni COND take.PFV-3MS-1SO “If He had killed me (lit. took me),”

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c. ham χ’ant’əs-ə-nni COND pluck.PFV-3MS-1SO “If He had killed me (lit. plucked me off),”

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d. bɨ-ħaʧ’ɨru ham ʔa-χ’rəj-ə-nni in-short COND CS-remain.PFV-3MS-1SO “If He had killed me (lit. remained me in short),”

The cursing expressions dəfəʔənni “turned me upside down”, wəsədənni “took me”, χ’ant’əsənni “plucked me off”, and bɨħaʧ’ɨru ham ʔaχ’rəjənni “remained me in short” in (2a-d) are locutionary acts, but all of which metaphorically refer to the speaker’s death or total exclusion. In other words, the speaker curses him/herself by uttering “I wish God had killed me” which also indicates how he/she is morally and psychologically devastated and hurt by his/her wrongdoings. Stating differently, the speaker has done something evil to him/herself or his/her family, neighbors, or community, for which reason he/she detests his/her life and wishes to have lost it (his/her life), indirectly appealing to supernatural for the death wish to happen.

On the contrary, self-cursing is made to express encouragement and condolence to those people who are in bad situations in the Rayya culture. Only mothers and elderly women, however, tend to curse themselves to make the addressee/s feel easy and strong. Similarly, Fekede and Fjeld (2016) pointed out, “Self-cursing in Gurage is used to express encouragement, admiration, congratulation, condolence, and politeness” (p. 367–372).

5.1.1. Encouraging

Mothers curse themselves to encourage their babies to perform things independently though the babies are too small to do so. The expressions made are used for boosting the moral of the babies and make them persistently try out activities with the examples in (3).

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(3) a. ħaməd jɨ-ʔa-bləʕ-ə-nni soil 3MS-CS-eat.PROG-3MS-1SO “Let Him make me dead (lit. eat me soil)!”

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b. ʔaf-əj χ’urs’ jɨ-bəl-ə-ll-ɨχa mouth-1S.POSS cut off 3MS-become.PROG-3MS-BEN-2MSO “Let me die to you (lit. my mouth cut off to you)!”

The self-cursing expression in (3a) is given when a baby says “I feel hungry” or when a baby is eating with a good appetite and is about to finish eating the food. Hence, a mother curses herself by uttering the locutionary act ħaməd jɨʔabləʕənni “Let Him make me eat soil!” in which the phrase “eat soil” pragmatically refers to “one’s death” based on the context it is uttered. During this time, the mother feels the food is so insufficient that she is happy to offer more. The expression’s function is, however, to encourage the baby to eat more. Similarly, when a baby utters ‘I am thirsty”, a mother curses herself saying “Let Him make me dry” of which intended meaning is an encouragement for the baby to drink much liquid as he/she can.

Besides, the cursing locutionary act in (3b) is given when a baby is able to utter a word or phrase properly. The expression’s intended meaning is “You are doing well; you are uttering the word/s well.” The expression is, therefore, made to encourage the baby to keep on speaking more words and phrases. Likewise, a mother curses herself saying “Let Him make me upside-down” in which the phrase “upside-down” contextually refers to “falling” when a baby is struggling to stand up, but he/she is unable to do so. The expression is given to encourage the baby to practice more times. However, the intended meanings of the expressions in (3a-b) are determined based on the contexts they are used.

5.1.2. Condolence

Women, particularly elderly mothers, curse themselves to express their heartfelt/sincere condolences to people who are in bad situations with the expressions in (4), which are also used for safe-saving acts.

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(4) a. hɨlm jɨ-ʔa-bɨll-ə-nni lost 3MS-CS-make.PROG-3MS-1SO “Let Him make me lost!”

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b. bəjza-χa dɨ-ʔanə sacrifice-2MS.POSS to-1SO “Let me sacrifice to you!”

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c. dɨ-ʔanə ham gəbər-o [gəʋero] to-1SO COND make.PFV-3MSO “If He made the problem to me,”

It is when parents lost their child and the whereabouts of him/her is unknown, a woman in (4a) extends her condolence by uttering the self-cursing locutionary act hɨlm jɨʔabɨllənni “Let Him make me lost!” which also implies the woman’s compassion and empathy for the family who has lost their child. In other words, the expression intends that the woman would be happy if she were in the situation of the child. Besides, when a child is hurt or died accidentally, a woman curses herself in (4b) to express her condolence to the addressee’s family. She wishes for the accident to happen or to have happened upon her on behalf of the addressee/child, which also infers the condolence she can express to the bereaved. Similarly, the self-cursing in (4c) is performed to express condolence for any accident the addressee might face. The addressee, for instance, might be injured, get blinded, or died in an accident. In all examples (4a-c), the Rayya people’s collective culture is vividly expressed.

The section that follows discusses cursing others, which means, how individuals wish for something bad to happen to those people who have done bad things to them.

5.2. Cursing others

Cursing others is broadly classified into two groups, one of which is individual cursing which occurs when a person curses another person or a group, and the other one is group cursing which happens when a group curses an individual or a group (Fekede & Fjeld, 2016). In this paper, only cursing individuals were presented and analyzed. The curses/the bad wishes to children, enemies, and leaders were specifically raised and discussed in each section respectively. Group cursing was not included in this paper for the insufficient data the researcher got.

5.2.1. Parental cursing

Parents (fathers and mothers) in the Rayya area like other Ethiopian parents curse their children when they do/make bad things like stealing, disrespecting, or deviating from the norms of the culture, etc. Related to this, Kombo (2003) stated, “Parents, grandparents, and other close relatives are known to curse persons within their families who may have done or said hurtful things against them, their families, or the community in general” (p.76). Kombo also said, “The power of the curse is efficacious only in those persons who may be guilty of the offense” (p. 77). As a tradition, a mother’s curses are believed to be more efficacious than a father’s ones in the Rayya culture which are also prevalent in other Ethiopian languages like Amharic, Oromo, and Wolayitta (Baye, 2013).

Children are cursed because the bad deeds they have done negatively influence the community in general and the family in particular. Parents, therefore, curse their children to be unhappy, unsuccessful, dependent, etc. in their future life. The examples in (5) are, for instance, performed for the bad wishes to happen.

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(5) a. tɨħti səb [səʋ] jɨ-gbər-χa [jɨgʋərχa] below man 3MS-make.IPFV-2MSO “Let Him make you inferior (lit. below man) to others!”

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b. naj səb [səʋ] ʔɨd jɨ-ʔa-rʔɨj-χa [jarʔɨjχa] POSS man hand 3MS-CS-see.IPFV-2MSO “Let Him make you dependent on others (lit. see the hands of others)!”

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c. səb [səʋ] dɨ-fətən-o ʔaj-jɨ-ʔa-rʔɨj-χa man REL-try.PFV-3MS NEG-3MS-CS-see.IPFV-2MSO “Let Him not make you see what others have tried and seen!”

The cursing expression tɨħti səb jɨgbərχa “Let Him make you below man!” in (5a) is a locutionary act performed by parents. The phrase “below man” in the expression metaphorically refers to “inferior to others” which is intentionally and reasonably uttered by parents to hurt the child. The expression is given, for instance, when a child is naughty, disobedient, or deviant. Hence, the expression is made wishing for the child to feel shameful, disgraceful, and poor self-esteemed by being inferior to others. It is also believed that a person who feels inferior to others is not able to live a happy and successful life. Besides, people highly disrespect and give less value to a person who has not secured his/her independence.

The cursing expression naj səb ʔɨd jɨʔarʔɨjχa “Let Him make you see the hands of others!” in (5b) is also a locutionary act in which the phrase “see the hands of others” figuratively denotes “dependent on others.” Parents, therefore, utter the expression in (5b) wishing for the child’s total dependency on others for the wrong he has done. The expression is desirous of the suffering of the child throughout his entire life by being a beggar and slave to others.

In example (5c), the cursing expression is made wishing for the child not to experience or see the good side of life. People, for instance, get married, make a family, become successful, prosperous, etc. Hence, the expression is performed wishing for the child to deprive of all good things in his life so that he always feels unhappy and pessimistic about the life he is making. Thus, in all the examples (5a-c), the authority is attributed to the divine power for the bad wishes to happen.

More seriously, parents, especially mothers wish for their children’s death for the evil things they have done to them or others by uttering the expressions in (6).

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(6) a. bɨ-dɨ-wəs’aʔ-χa jɨ-ʔa-χ’ɨrɨj-χa that-went out-2MS 3MS-CS-keep.IPFV-2MSO “Let Him make you dead (lit. never get you back home)!”

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b. dɨfʔ jɨ-ʔa-bɨl-χa turn_up_side down 3MS-CS-make.IPFV-2MSO “Let Him make you dead (lit. turn you upside down)!”

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c. bɨ-ħaʧ’ɨru ham χ’arəʔ-χa in-short COND remain.PFV-2MS “If you were not born (lit. remained in short),”

The cursing expressions bɨdɨwəs’aʔχa jɨʔaχ’ɨrɨjχa “never get you back”, dɨfʔ jɨʔabɨlχa “turn you upside down”, and bɨħaʧ’ɨru χ’arəʔχa “remained in short” in (6a-c) are locutionary acts respectively, but all of which figuratively refer to the child’s death to happen for the evil things he has done. In other words, the child is cursed because he has done evil things to his family or others, but his parents do not have the power to punish him though they are badly hurt by his bad deeds, and for which the authority is attributed to the supernatural power in (6a-b) for the death wish to come true.

The expression in (6c) is also a wish for an early death of the child. The curser’s intended meaning is “It would be nice if you were not born” or “I would be grateful and happy if you died while you were an infant”, which also suggests regret for having a child who is misbehaving and deviant. The expression is, however, made without invocation of an external force for the bad wish to come by. With high emotion and anger, the mothers make the expression interact face-to-face with the child.

5.2.2. Cursing an enemy

Individuals who are weak, helpless, and powerless curse their enemies for the deliberate and frequent offenses they have committed upon them. However, those people who have been offended and hurt make curses in the absence of their enemy by appealing to the supernatural whose divine power is strongly believed to assure justice. Watson (1991) also said, “The most constant motive for pronouncing a curse was the attaining of justice” (p. 38). The cursing expressions in (7a-c) are made for such objectives.

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(7) a. ħajjal jɨ-ʔa-wurd-ə-ll-u/a powerful 3MS-CS-send.IPFV-3MS-BEN-3MS/3FS “Let Him send some power/force against the enemy!”

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b. ʔamlaχ jɨ-farəd-o God 3MS-avenge.IPFV-3MSO “Let God avenge him!”

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c. məʧ’ərəʃʃa-u jɨ-ʔa-rʔɨj-ə-nni lasting-3MS.POSS 3MS-CS-see.IPFV-3MS-1SO “Let Him make me see his death (lit. his lasting)!”

The expression ħajjal jɨʔawurdəllu/a meaning “Let Him send some power/force against the enemy!” in (7a) is a wish for an act of revenge and justice. The word ħajjal “powerful” figuratively refers to supernatural power whose divine power the speaker calls upon for justice to be served. In other words, the expression implies that the curser is so weak and powerless that he/she needs help from the supernatural to punish his/her enemy and then justice to be done. Watson (1991) also attested, “Because curses were believed to be so powerful, they were an effective tool in seeking revenge and were usually used when the curser had no other recourse against the person harming him” (p. 39). There is also a belief in the Rayya culture that one who has deliberately offended other innocent people will get punishment from the divine power for his/her guilt sooner or later, and for which the authority in (7a) is attributed to God.

The speaker in (7b) makes the expression explicitly appealing to ʔamlaχ “God”, which also makes the expression religious. The expression entails that the curser is so weak, poor, and powerless that he/she needs only God’s help for justice to be served. In other words, the speaker’s intention is “I do not have the power to punish you, but it is God who can do that.” Besides, there is a belief that one who has been irrationally hurt will get justice through divine power. Hence, those people who are weak and helpless always call for divine power for their wishes to be effective in the Rayya culture.

Similarly, feeling desperate and helpless, the speaker makes the expression məʧ’ərəʃʃau jɨʔarʔɨjənni which literally means “Let Him make see his lasting!” in (7c) in which the word məʧ’ərəʃʃau “his lasting” contextually infers to the enemy’s death. Here, the speaker is badly hurt and so he/she calls upon the divine power for the death wish to come true, which consequently, justice to be served.

In light of the above, an enemy is also cursed not to have children or successors. He/she is cursed to be excluded from the community he/she belongs to due to the crimes he/she has committed with the examples (8a-b).

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(8) a. zərʔi ʔaj-jɨ-wus’əʔ-ə-ll-u seed NEG-3MS-have.IPFV-3MS-BEN-3MS “Let there be no successor (lit. seed) from him!”

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b. t’əwar-ɨj χ’əbar-ɨj [χ’əʋari] jɨ-ʔa-sɨʔn-o caretaker-CONJ one who buries-CONJ 3MS-CS-not having.IPFV-3MSO “Let Him not give the enemy a child who can care for and bury him when he dies!”

In example (8a), the speaker performs the expression wishing for the total exclusion or elimination of his/her enemy from the community he belongs to. The word zərʔi “seed” in the expression figuratively refers to a “successor” for whom a married couple prays to the supernatural to bestow upon them. There is also a tradition that one who does not have a child cannot be respected and lived happily like other people who have children. Besides, a person who does not have a child is also considered as if he/she was cursed by his/her parents, elders, or God. Especially women are thought of as “abnormal” and “barren” which often makes them excluded from various social and cultural activities. To put it in a nutshell, children who are the successors of their parents are thought of as an asset or wealth in Ethiopia’s societies in general and the Rayya people in particular.

The expression in (8b) is also performed wishing for the enemy to live without a child who will care for him in his old age and who will bury him when he dies. As a tradition, one highly needs to have t’əwarɨ “caretaker” in his/her old age, and χ’əbarɨ “one who buries” while he/she dies. Hence, the cursing expression in (8b) is a wish for the enemy’s total dependency on other people, which is often traditionally thought of as disgraceful and makes one’s self-esteem inglorious in the Rayya culture.

5.2.3. Cursing leaders

Individuals who are in leadership are cursed for the crimes they have committed or inflicted upon the innocent community or society. The curses are performed by elderly people in the absence of the leaders because of the power they have by only appealing to an external causer for the bad wishes to be effective. On this, Anderson (1998) explains, “Curses are often a kind of ‘private law’ uttered by the vulnerable when the enforcing are of the law was limited” (p. 231). The author also states, “The vulnerable people use curses as the last means to protect themselves from those in authority by appealing to divine justice” (p. 232). The examples in (9a-c) are given to have justice.

Table

(9) a. ʃumət-u ʔaj-jɨ-ʔa-mʃɨjj-ə-ll-u power-3MS.POSS NEG-3MS-CS-set.IPFV-3MS-BEN-3MS “Let Him make the leader stay in his/her power for short (lit. till the sun not set)!”

Table

b. mərgəm hɨzbi [hɨzʋi] jɨ-farəd-o curse people 3MS-avenge.IPFV-3MSO “Let people’s curse avenge him/the leader!”

Table

c. ʔɨssu jɨ-nχ’əl-o He 3MS-uproot.IPFV-3MSO “Let He kill (lit. uproot) him/the leader!”

It is when a leader misuses the power the people have given to him/her, the cursing expression in (9a) is made seeking resignation from the power he/she has been assigned and consequently, justice to be served. In other words, when a leader is found to be dictatorial, corrupt, inhumane, etc., the elders curse him/her by uttering the expression ʃumətu ʔajjɨʔamʃɨjjəllu “Let Him make the leader stay in his/her power for short!” in (9a). The imbalance of power between the curser and the leader is also denoted in the causative verb for which the divine power is indirectly called upon for justice to be done. Besides, there is a belief that the collective curses/people’s curses are dreadful and efficacious in the Rayya people. Hence, the expression mərgəm hɨzbi jɨfarədo “Let people’s curse avenge him/the leader!” in (9b) is made to have justice for the wrong the leader has done.

The cursing expression ʔɨssu jɨnχ’əlo “Let He uproot the leader!” in (9c) is a locutionary act. The verb “uproot” in the expression metaphorically denotes “kill”. The pronoun ʔɨssu “He” refers to “God” whose divine power the speaker calls upon for justice to be served. The curser’s intended meaning is “I am so weak, helpless, and powerless that I cannot fight with the leader; it is God who can destroy him.” The participants also said that only mothers and elderly women make the expression in (9c) by raising their hands towards the sky wishing to have the God’s punishment and justice.

6. Conclusion

It is plausible to conclude from the data presented and the explanation forwarded that cursing expressions are predominantly used metaphorically/figuratively. Throughout the examples, cursing expressions were performed either implicitly or explicitly appealing to the divine power for the bad wishes to come by. One can also understand that man is so weak and powerless that he highly needs the help of his creator. Cursing expressions in most cases are desiderative. They use a jussive/optative mood. Curses are also power-oriented in the sense that only parents, elders, and other senior people are traditionally and religiously believed to be appropriate to make/give curses, especially in the individual-cursing in the Rayya culture. The speech community strongly believes that the curses of these individuals are more efficacious than those of the juniors. Cursing expressions are also performed for face-threatening and face-saving acts. One curses him/herself to express regret and more seriously, to wish for his/her death for the bad things he/she has done to him/herself or caused to happen to others. On the other hand, mothers and elderly women curse themselves to extend their sincere condolence and encouragement to people in bad situations. Seeking punishment, revenge, and justice, parents and elderly people curse other individuals for their bad deeds. To put it in a nutshell, cursing expressions are locutionary acts, bad wishes/maledictions are illocutionary acts, and the feelings of fear, regret, guilt, exclusion, sadness, pessimism, cursing, etc., are perlocutionary acts. The curses of health, wealth, lineages/successors, and power are the most recurrent themes expressed in the Rayya Tigrinya. Generally, the social, cultural, religious, and moral fabrics of the Rayya people are vividly expressed throughout the cursing expressions.

Abbreviations

Table

1	first person	2	second person	3	third person
BEN	benefactive	FS	feminine singular	PASS	passive	REL	relative clause
CAUS	causative	MS	Masculine singular	PL	plural	O	object marker
COND	conditional	NEG	negation	PRE	preposition
CONJ	conjunction	IMPF	imperfective	PROG	progressive
DEF	definiteness	PFV	perfective	POSS	possessive

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tesfaye Ashenafi

Tesfaye Ashenafi is a lecturer at Debre Berhan University, Ethiopia. He received his B.Ed. degree in English from Jimma University and his MA degree in General Linguistics from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He teaches courses: micro-linguistics (phonetics and phonology, morpho-syntax, semantics, and pragmatics), macro-linguistics (sociolinguistics), and writing and communicative English skills for undergraduate students at a university. Besides, he has been advising and supervising regular and summer in-service undergraduate students for seven years. He is now a Ph.D. candidate at Addis Ababa University, studying Linguistics and doing his dissertation on the topic entitled “The Semantics and Pragmatics of Blessing and Cursing Expressions in Rayya Tigrinya in the Southern Tigray Zone in Ethiopia.” His major areas of scholarly interest include semantics and pragmatics, socio-linguistics, and lexicography. He can be contacted at [email protected]

Appendix

The interview questions which were first prepared in English have been translated into the target language (Rayya Tigrinya) to get the authentic data.

(1) How do you curse yourself? Why do you curse? To whom do you appeal while you are cursing yourself?

ድባዕልኻ/ኺ ሃመይ ኢልኻ/ኺ ትረግም/ሚ?/ድባዕሎም ሃመይ ኢለን/ኢሎም ይረግማ/ይረግሙ? ድምንታይ ይረግሙ? ድመንኸ ይማህጸኑ?

(2) How do you use cursing for safe-saving acts?

ድባዕልኻ ብምርጋም ኻልኦት ሰባት ምብርትታዕ ይከኣል ዶ?

(3) What expressions do you make while you are cursing your child/children? Do you think your cursing is efficacious? To whom do you appeal for your curse to come real?

ሕማቕ ድሰርሑ ደቖም ኸ ሃመይ ኢሎም ይረግምዎም? መርገሞም ንኽሰምር ድመን ይማህጸኑ?

(4) How do you curse your enemy who has badly hurt you? Why do you curse like that?

ብጣዕሚ ንዝጎድኦ/አን ሰብ ሃምይ ኢሎም/ኢለን ይረግምዎ?/ንጸላአን/ኦም ሃመይ ኢለን/ኢሎም ይረግምዎ?

(5) How do you curse individuals in leadership who have done wrong to you, your family, or your community? To whom do you appeal?

ሕማቕ እናሰርሑ ኣብ ምምሕዳር ዘለው ሰባት ሃመይ ኢሎም ይረግምዎም?መርገሞም ኽበጽሕ ድመን ይማህጸኑ?