Inside(r)-outside(r): Linguistics, Sociology, and the Microterritoriality of Maritime Space on Pitcairn Island

Abstract

<p><i>Purpose</i>—This article investigates how the explicit and fixed inside-outside (landward-seaward) absolute spatial axis used to describe offshore space linguistically in the Pitcairn Island language, Pitcairn, can be applied metaphorically to a more implicit and flexible onshore social axis of insider-outsider in Pitcairn Island society. It merges studies of small-scale territoriality of linguistic and sociological space with an appreciation of land based versus maritime exchange around the island.</p> <p><i>Design, Methodology, Approach</i>—This study is founded in the findings of a three-month fieldtrip to Pitcairn Island in 2016 to collect linguistic, ethnographic, maritime-cultural, and sociological data. The results are based on over 50 hours of interviews with 18 mainly elderly members of the Pitcairn Island community.</p> <p><i>Findings</i>—Descriptions of grammaticalized space and offshore maritime territory in the Pitcairn Island language are stricter and less flexible than the more fluid insider-outsider consensus and management of micro social space and territory. An argument merging the role of the researcher-as-outsider interacting with informant-as-insider and real and perceived social threat is advanced.</p> <p><i>Practical implications</i>—This multidisciplinary research combines linguistic, sociological, and island studies outcomes with relevant territorial and maritime research debates. The spatiality of microterritoriality involving onshore and offshore locations is considered.</p>