Fiot(e)
‘Black’
Image: Bob Schalkwijk/INAH
Discussion Questions
- The coastal word fiot(e) ‘black’ served to name an abstract quality that could be applied to both objects and people. What criteria defined membership to the social category of fiot(e) ‘black’? Can you propose possible changes in the criteria over time within individual languages? What historical processes might explain such changes? How do those criteria apply to emerging European ideas about race, tribe/ethnicity, and nation?
- How can we explain the use of the central African word *-piont- in coastal languages? What need did coastal societies meet by borrowing this foreign word? Toward whom or what might they have directed this (non-linguistic?) communication?
How to cite this material: de Luna, Kathryn M. “Fiot(e).” Atlantic Language Archive. Georgetown University. [Insert Access Date Here]. http://atlanticlangarchive.georgetown.edu/fiote/.
