Logographic Elements of Daoist Religious Language: A Case Study of Two Temples in Southern Taiwan

This article presents data on two religious sociolects, or religiolects, of two Daoist temples in southern Taiwan: the Daode yuan 道德院 (＂Sanctuary of the Way and the Virtue＂) and the Baozhong yimin miao 褒忠義民廟 (＂Temple of the Dutiful, Commended for Loyalty＂). The language communities of these two temples employ language varieties based on complex interactions between Modern Standard Chinese, Daigi, and Hakka, as influenced by the backgrounds, locations, and functions of the temples and the communities of functionaries and practitioners. The data presented consists of a series of single logographs, collected from 2011 to 2012 during the course of fieldwork, and are those which the author can reasonably determine that community members perceive to be religiously significant, and distinct from nonreligious language. Since human beings make choices about their language use, and this language use has an effect on thought and action, this data demonstrates that as every syllable is associated with meaning, meanings get caught up in a network of associations with other meanings from surrounding, associated, or remembered logographs. These associations, in turn, form a complex network of conceptions, and can reveal new relationships of thought relative to religious conceptions.

關鍵字

Daoism ； Daoist Language ； Taiwanese Religion ； Religious Language ； Languages of Taiwan ； Linguistic Anthropology ； Logographs ； Characters

並列摘要

這篇文章呈現來自位於南台灣道教宮廟：道德院以及褒忠義民廟，關於宗教性社會方言，或又稱宗教方言的兩份資料。這兩座宮廟屬於現代標準漢語，台語以及客家話的語言社群，因為受到背景、地點、宮廟的功能、以及公務員社群及實踐者社群之間複雜互動，而產生的語言多樣性。這份資料呈現從2011 年至2012 年田野調查期間，所蒐集到一系列語標中的內容，以及該語標的作者可以理性的決定該社群的成員，接收到的訊息是具有明顯的宗教意味，抑或是區別於非宗教語言。鑑於人們選擇他們語言的使用，而且這個語言的使用對於思想與行動會產生影響，這份資料呈現出當每一個音節與意義相結合時，意義便與來自於環境的其他意義所產生的網絡相結合，並且語標相連結，或是被記憶。接著，這些連結形成了一個概念的複雜網絡，而且能夠揭示出與宗教概念相關的新的思考關係。