A Polytropical Approach to the ‘Floating Pelican’ Song: An Exercise in Rich Interpretation of a Murriny Patha (Northern Australia) Song

Abstract

This is one small piece of a research project carried out by a team of musicologists and linguists during 2004–2008 on song traditions at Wadeye, NT and its environs [L Barwick, J Blythe, A Marett and M Walsh 2007 ‘Arriving, digging, performing, returning: an exercise in rich interpretation of a djanba song text in the sound archive of the Wadeye Knowledge Centre, Northern Territory of Australia’ in RM Moyle (ed.) Oceanic Encounters: Festschrift for Mervyn McLean Research in Anthropology and Linguistics Monographs, Auckland. pp. 13–24]. Drawing on Peter Toner's analysis of Dhalwangu Manikay songs from the Yolngu area which in turn relies on Paul Friedrich's theory of polytropy, an attempt is made to present a detailed account of a Murriny Patha song in the Djanba style.

Keywords:

• Song Language
• Poetics
• Australian Aborigines
• Northern Australia
• Interpretation

Acknowledgements

An earlier version was presented at the ALS Workshop: Language of Poetry and Song, 27 September 2007, University of Adelaide. I am grateful for comments provided, including Rachel Nordlinger and Peter Sutton, and later suggestions and advice from Joe Blythe, Linda Barwick, Nick Riemer and Jane Simpson. That version was partly built on a somewhat different paper, dealing with the same song (Walsh 2007b).

Notes

See http://azoulay.arts.usyd.edu.au/; see also Walsh (2007b).

²The abbreviations used here are as follows: Interj = Interjection; adj = adjective; Suff = Suffix; NomCl = Nominal Classifier; s = singular; S = Subject; nFut = non-future; Dub = Dubitative; FinV = Finite Verb; Cov = Coverb; SerFinV = Serializing Finite Verb; Part = Particle.

³Many thanks to Linda Barwick for this information and analysis.

Underlying song text:

a1 kunbinyi kanggarlu mangga

a2 da tjingarru yirrminyinu

a3 mantharrwitjdimya

b1 tjilytjidhangunugathu

b2 (=a2) da tjingarru yirrminyinu

b3 (=augmented a3) walurndak mantharrwitjdim

b4 manganthartdimya

Verse:

Part 1—men only

  a1, a2, a3

  a1, a2, a3

Part 2—men only

  b1

Part 3—started by men, joined by women, ended by women only

  b2, b3, b4, b2, b3, b4

This whole verse structure is repeated between three and five times.

⁴See Marett (2005) for a discussion of ghost language in west Arnhem Land songs.

⁵Some may question my title in that it might seem grandiose to speak of ‘rich interpretation’ when I have been unable to say much at all about some of the macrotropes: in particular the analogical trope. I have also deferred a detailed account of rhythmic structure which could appear under the rubric of the formal trope. In my defence I would point out that Toner's application of this approach was to a whole range of songs whereas I am applying it to just one song. In doing so I believe we get a far richer interpretation than is usual for a single song and we become aware of what still needs to be done. In other cases we get an interpretation that is narrow but much deeper—for example, an account mostly focused on the rhythmic structure. My plea is that we attempt interpretations of individual songs that are broad even if relatively shallow in the hope that such analyses will eventually lead to a broader and deeper understanding of song in Aboriginal Australia.

⁶Metaphor is prevalent in Warlpiri songs however; see Curran, in this volume.