Rythmes et euphonies dans les jeux mains-bouche. Un zoom ethnographique sur la sociabilité entre enfants (Cambodge)

• Main Author: Steven Prigent
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Université de Provence 2013-11-01
• Series: Moussons
• Subjects: Cambodia; children’s games; rude and cheeky stories; rhythm; euphony
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/moussons/2385

This article takes a serious look at the childish practice of hand-clapping singing games in a village of rice growers in Cambodia. In these games the children chant assonant verses while they clap hands. They play with words and play out special choreographies. When we examine one of these games and we consider the verbal and gestural scripts, what rhythm changes mark the playing out of the game? What do the children talk about in these games and what are the rules? Each time, we observe two high points : a period of rhythmic chanting (with hand percussion) and a duel of hands. The chanting can precede the duel or the other way round, according to the type of game it is. In all cases, the game finishes with an emotional release : the children hit one another, they pinch and tickle one another and poke one another while laughing.