This paper is a study in the productivity of working across the disciplinary boundaries of material culture studies, historical linguistics and museology to restore the significance of historic names and terminological classifications for prestigious Tongan objects within the wider context of Western Polynesia. The authors trace the nomenclature of radial feather headdresses (palā tavake) both within Tonga as well as through linguistic cognates from elsewhere in Western Polynesia. Aspects of Tongan naming practices of other prestige items are considered, such as ‘akau tau ‘clubs’ and kie hingoa ‘named mats’, as is the Tongan practice of the poetical device of heliaki. We argue for a deeper understanding of objects of Tongan material culture and the historical and social environment that created them by closely “reading” prestige objects from Tonga’s past.

中文翻译：

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名称是什么？：重建18世纪晚期汤加物质文化中的声誉和说服力

本文是对跨物质文化研究，历史语言学和博物馆学的学科界限工作以提高西波里尼西亚范围内有名的汤加物体的历史名称和术语分类的重要性的一项生产力研究。作者追踪了汤加内部以及西波里尼西亚其他地方的语言认知中的放射状羽毛头饰（pala tavake）的命名。汤加其他名望物品的命名方式也被考虑，例如“ akau tau”俱乐部和king hingoa“命名垫”，以及heliaki诗词装置的汤加实践。