BOUND TO THE CORE, HELD LOCKED IN OUR HEA RT - PRAYERS AND INVOCATIONS AMONG THE ROTINESE

On the Indonesian island of Roti, conversion to Christianity was initi ated by local elites and took place over several centuries. As a resul t of this slow process of conversion, Christian prayers came to combin e traditional ritual discourse with a biblical discourse. The Rotinese thus developed an unusual form of prayer. The author analyzes the lin guistic modes of construction of these prayers and the remarkable crea tive richness they embody.