ABSTRACT Ritual, like any language, has its own grammar and, like spoken languages, we can get at that grammar by breaking the ritual down into its smallest component parts, which I call ritèmes. As phonemes are combined to form words, ritèmes are combined to form ritual acts, which are in turn combined to form ‘sentences’. Ritual sentences are frequently composed of three parts, which I refer to as introductory (or preparatory), efficacious and conclusive. These ritual sentences are in their turn incorporated into the overarching framework of rites, and these rites into the ritual. Analysis in the present article focuses on the overarching framework of rites, which I describe as organized with asymmetrical symmetry: the symmetry provides the basic structure, the asymmetry the dynamic vector of the ritual. Complexity of structure of individual rites is the first key to the overall meaning of the ritual, transformational grammar of the ritèmes the second.

中文翻译：

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陆秀静的《寿都义授度仪》：语法阅读

摘要仪式与任何语言一样，都有自己的语法，就像口头语言一样，我们可以通过将仪式分解成最小的组成部分来理解该语法，我称之为仪式。当音素被组合成单词时，礼节被组合成仪式行为，而礼节行为又被组合成“句子”。礼节性句子通常由三个部分组成，我称之为介绍性（或准备性），有效和结论性的。这些仪式句子又被并入了仪式的总体框架中，而这些仪式又被并入了仪式中。本文中的分析着重于仪式的总体框架，我将其描述为具有不对称对称性的组织：对称性提供了基本结构，不对称性提供了仪式的动态矢量。