3-5 February 2014- Istanbul, Turkey Proceedings of INTCESS14- International Conference on Education and Social Sciences 1876 ISBN: 978-605-64453-0-9 A Riddles’ Structure of Iranun in Sabah Asmiaty Amat 1 , PhD & Lokman Abdul Samad 2 1 Centre for the Promotion of Knowledge and Language Learning, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. E-mail: adajiwa@gmail.com . 2 School of Arts, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Jalan UMS, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. E-mail: lokns@yahoo.com . Keywords: Sabah, Iranun, structure Antuka, mindset. Abstract. Riddles are very popular in Malaysian oral literature. Amongsts Sabah’s many ethnic groups, riddles have their own names. The KadazanDusuns call them sudait, the Iranuns call theirs antuka’. Riddles are put forth as questions to be guessed, as well as to create a feeling of togetherness through entertainment in the community, particularly so in rural and village communities. Antuka’ flourished among the Iranuns in Kota Belud, on the West coast of Sabah. There are Iranuns in Lahad Datu, on Sabah’s South-eastern coast, however this study is a collection of 555 Antukas. The present study documented, translated, and classified the Antukas by their structure. The Antukas are used as entertainment and have simple structures, using various objects as subjects to elucidate the riddles. The riddles collectively showcase the mindset of the community that created them. 1. Introduction A riddle is “a description of objects in terms intended to suggest something entirely different (Taylor, A. 1959:1). It is given as a vague question, the answer is usually difficult for the listener to guess. It is usually employed to test someone’s cognitive abilities. In Malay, teka-teki is derived from Sanskrit, terka, which means to try and to find. Despite its function, our study showed that riddles are oral traditions which depict the surroundings of the communities they flourished in; the answers are still to be guessed by the listeners. Riddles contain descriptive objects which act as metaphors or allegory for a different subject. Empirical data on the origins of riddles are scarce because they are oral literature, passed on from one generation to another. In earlier times, it was believed that the true meaning of speech has to be concealed so bad spirits would not know about it. Such speech need only be conducted at certain times only. This belief and its practice have been found among the Western Toraja and the Toaraja Bara’e in the upper interiors of Sulawesi, Indonesia. This demonstrates an intimate relationship between riddles and animism, for example, riddles used by mediums in ritual worship of the rice spirit. However, on their own, riddles do not demonstrate any religious characteristics. 2. The Iranun Community in Sabah The Iranun is one ethnic group among many ethnic groups in Sabah. Most Iranuns live in Kota Kinabalu, Kota Belud and Lahad Datu. Their large presence in Kota Belud caused them to be sometimes grouped together with the Bajaus and categorised as the West Coast Bajau. It might also be due to the fact that the Iranuns and the Bajaus have similarities in their culture. Inter-marriages