EA-TW-AMIS-001 - ethnographic attestation
Amis
Eastern Taiwan - Asia
Play / practical
bnbn English
Source term: Bnbn (bullroarer)
bnbn — Amis name for the bullroarer, apparently onomatopoeic
Etymology. Cheng treats the Amis form as onomatopoeic. (medium confidence)
Among the Amis of eastern Taiwan the bullroarer is called bnbn, a name the ethnomusicologist Lancini Jen-hao Cheng records as apparently onomatopoeic. He documents it as a children's plaything and as a noisemaker swung to scare birds away and help protect the crops in the fields. In Cheng's chart of Amis instruments by traditional use, the bnbn sits among the toys rather than with the kakeng and kiangkiang played in rituals.
The bullroarer is also a previously undocumented instrument and bnbn, is the indigenous name given to it in Amis society, a term that seems to be onomatopoeic. The bnbn functioned as a toy or to scare birds in order to help protect arable crops.
Cheng, "Native Terminology and Classification of Taiwanese Musical Instruments," Ensayos 19(28), 2015, sec. 1.13
- Object
- Cheng identifies bnbn as the Amis indigenous name for a bullroarer and says the term appears onomatopoeic.
- Function
- Children's toy or bird-scarer used to protect arable crops.
- Map confidence
- medium - Eastern Taiwan Amis regional anchor; Cheng gives a society/language attestation rather than a single village.
- Source location
- section 1.13, printed p. 78; conclusion
- Toy / secular survival