THE EXISTENCE OF GOD AS RULER OF HEAVEN AND RULER OF EARTH IN DAWANESE LANGUAGE

This study explores the relationship of both Dawanese language and Dawanese culture belonging to Dawanese society as members of Dawanese speech community with special reference to their cultural conceptualization regarding the existence of God as ruler of heaven and ruler of earth in Dawanese language. The study is viewed from the perspective of cultural linguistics as its theoretical framework. The study is descriptive-qualitative in nature. The results of study show that the existence of God as ruler of heaven and ruler of earth in Dawanese language is reflected in the verbal expressions of Uis Neno and Uis Pah. The verbal expression, Uis Neno, is the special name or artribute of God in Dawanese language designating his existence as the ruler of heaven, and the verbal expression, Uis Pah, is the special name or artribute of God in Dawanese language designating his existence as the ruler of earth. The verbal expressions are the cultural properties inherited from the ancestors of Dawanese speech community designating their system of belief before they come into contact with heavenly religions, especially Christian religion which is adhered to by most of today’s Dawanese speech community.