LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS IN MNONG CUSTOMARY LAW (CASE STUDY: CHAPTER IV - ABOUT CUSTOMS)

Abstract

Customary laws are rules and codes of conduct that have long been established, forcing people to follow them in a narrow community (usually a village or commune). The article analyzes and points out the linguistic features of the Mnong customary law, through a case study: Chapter IV - On customs. Thereby contributing to the systematic study of customary law of ethnic minorities in Vietnam, aiming to preserve and promote the positive values in the community's traditional customary law.
The language in the Mnong customary law is very close to the language of poetry (which is "rhyming speech"). Regarding the form of customary law, there are many sentences (lines) linked together in rhyme and rhythm. The number of words of the poems in the Mnong customary law is very diverse, the rhyme is very variable, half free and half legal. In terms of semantics, Mnong customary law includes chapters and lots of articles: lexical-semantic fields: animals, objects, space, plants, spirituality, beliefs, natural phenomena.