Personal Narrative: The Mana Tribe

My father recently died of brain cancer. This man was a renowned linguistic anthropologist who rarely frequented home except to either grab a new change of clothes, or to purposely get on my nerves. After his death, I was forced to clean out his office so that his colleagues could make use of his space. Using up my time and willpower to arrive at my father’s workplace, I was welcomed by one of his colleagues, and was then escorted to his office. Upon reaching his office, my father’s colleague proceeded to open the office door, welcoming me to my father’s work space. As I took a step forward into the office, a gust of musk slapped the side of my face, almost leaving a bruise to my sense of smell. Accompanying the ambush was the sight of a very

I base my conjecture by how his notes explain that the Mana tribe defined the term terrain as “absolutely flat,” “rolling,” and “slightly hilly.” Also, they did not have a term for ocean. Furthermore, the Mana tribe also had several words for precipitation, most translating to “rain”, and only one meaning “snow.” I believe that the geographic terms help reinforce the idea that they lived on the plains. Also, for the Mana tribe to not have a term for ocean shows that they probably did not live near the ocean or any body of water; thus, they did not make a term for it. Also, from my knowledge in Natural History (BIO305), the weather terms describe weather conditions that are common in the plains. Aside from the environmental features, the terms used for food and livestock also help support my claim. The Mana tribe had dozens of terms for grains, including eight for wheat alone. They also had words for cow, pig, calf, and sheep. The crops were probably cultivated and harvested according to season. Because the Mana tribe also lived in the plains, I assume that they had no trouble with growing their vegetation due to the abundance of fertile land that could be used for farming. Not only that, the livestock described by the Mana tribe suit living in the plains, for they are herbivores. Being able to make use of the land year round (if they farmed according to season), they seem to not be in drought (compared to