Edge Effects in Warlpiri Yawulyu Songs: Resyllabification, Epenthesis, Final Vowel Modification

Abstract

Song genres vary as to which aspects of language and music are matched to create a well-formed song. For example, English folk songs match stressed syllables to strong musical beats. Some song styles have no requirements on how language and music should align. This article analyses how text and music align in Warlpiri women's songs from central Australia and finds there are ‘text-setting’ rules for setting text to musical rhythm. We first identify the formal units of the text and music and then account for their combination by two matching rules. In Warlpiri, text-setting involves matching each syllable to one metrical (rhythmic) position and aligning phonological phrase edges with bar edges. Linguistic units smaller than the phrase, such as those in reduplications and other polymorphemic words, require no such alignment. Alignment is often met through lengthening the right edge of a phrase, which often results in a distortion of the patterns of syllabic prominence in speech. Preferred structures for both text and music can lead to variations of a song based on a reordering of these preferences. This can be exploited to restructure songs when words must be avoided for social reasons.

Keywords:

• Warlpiri
• Yawulyu
• Prosody
• Rhythmic Patterns
• Metre
• Text-Setting
• Song

Notes

¹ An extensive list of recordings and documentation of Warlpiri songs can be found at http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/aust/wlp/wlp-song-ref.html

² Warlpiri examples are given using the standard orthographic conventions. In addition to single letter symbols, a number of digraphs are used: rC indicates a post-alveolar consonant (rl, rn, rt, rd), but not rr which symbolizes an alveolar tap or trill as opposed to r which designates a rhotic glide; Cy indicates a palatal consonant (ly, ny); the velar nasal is written ng. The three phonemic vowels, /a/, /i/ and /u/, have long counterparts written with a double vowel letter.

³ All Warlpiri preverbs, sometimes referred to as coverbs, observe the bimoraic word constraint although they differ from words (which may constitute a syntactic or prosodic phrase) by ending in either a coronal nasal or sonorant consonant (n, rn, ny; l, rl, ly; rr) or a vowel. The minimal preverb is of the form CV(C)V(C).

⁴ The elative has two variant forms -ngirli/-ngurlu whose use is determined by the nature of the stem-final vowel.

⁵ This SWWW pattern corresponds to an attested surface phonetic realization observed which may be a product of connected speech processes that will not be investigated here.

⁶ For more information on Warlpiri verbal compounds see Laughren (2010) and Nash (1982, 1986, 2008).

⁷ In song 44 (Pawu07), the sequence of preverb final /u/ + /w/ (initial glide of verb wantinya ‘fall’) is realized as an off glide to the final consonant of the preceding preverb yarrapu ‘disappearing’ giving [yarrapwantinya].

⁸ For example, line 75 (Pawu20b).

⁹ Yawulyu is also performed by the Kukatja (Moyle 1997), Warumungu (Barwick 2000) and Arandic speaking peoples where it is known by the cognate term awelye (Turpin 2007a, 2011). It is also practised among the Djaru/Nyininy of eastern Kimberley (Berndt 1950) and Gurindji of southern Victoria River district where it is named with cognate terms. The term is also used in Gulf of Carpentaria languages Yanyuwa and Garrwa.

¹⁰ Barwick's (1989: 13) ‘song series’ (see also Wild 1987: 101) is what Strehlow (1955) refers to as a ‘song’ and what Moyle (1979: 167), Ellis (1985), and Ellis and Barwick (1987: 42) refer to as a ‘songline’.

¹¹ See Wild (1987) for discussion of how Warlpiri song structure reflects land tenure patterns.

¹² Ellis uses the term ‘songline’ for what we refer to as ‘song series’ in her analysis of Arrernte songs (1992: 45). She does not make the distinction between song series and songline; indeed this distinction does not seem to exist in Arandic songs which may reflect differences in land tenure between Warlpiri and Arandic societies.

¹³ The diagram based on Ellis (1992: 45) for Arrernte songs applies equally to Warlpiri.

¹⁴ The defining features of the melodic contour are not always easily identified; these often include certain rhythmic features as well as a sequence of pitches.

¹⁵ As such, the setting of rhythmic text to pitch contour is not considered in this paper.

¹⁶ Lines of rhythmic texts are frequently spoken by singers when referring to songs in conversation, however these are rarely rhythmicised; thus the rhythmic text is in a sense abstract.

¹⁷ The authors, in conjunction with the Willowra community, published an edited film of these two yawulyu performances, a copy of which is held at the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies: Yawulyu Wirliyajarrayi-wardingkiki : ngatjirri, ngapa = Willowra song lines : budgerigar and rain, Willowra Community, 2010, AIATSIS Call number. 782.42099429.

¹⁸ Laughren also recorded these songs in 1978 sung by women at Yuendumu as part of the ngatijirri song line.

¹⁹ Accounts of the Dreaming story which the ngatijirri verses evoke are given by Kitson (1994), Meggitt (1967) and Wild (1975).

²⁰ The heartland of traditional Warlpiri country is the Tanami Desert and adjacent areas. After World War 2, most Warlpiri came to reside in a series of ‘settlements’, many having previously lived and worked for varying lengths of time on cattle stations or in mining camps which still allowed them to live on Warlpiri country and to engage in most aspects of the traditional lifestyle. People from all over Warlpiri country were settled at Yuendumu in southern Warlpiri (Ngaliya) country from 1947. In 1956 Hooker Creek (later renamed Lajamanu) was established to the immediate north west of Warlpiri country where mostly northern and western Warlpiri were ‘settled’. Also in the 1950s many eastern Warlpiri people were settled on Kaytetye country at Ali-curung (formerly Warrabri). Many Lander River Warlpiri (Yarlpiri) continued living on their country or maintained their connection with it despite it being under a grazing licence or a pastoral lease between 1931 and 1973 when Willowra pastoral lease was purchased for the benefit of the Yarlpiri (and Anmatyerr) people, subsequently converted to freehold title in 1980 (Vaarzon-Morel 1995). Close relations with neighbouring Arandic language speakers are reflected in Lander River Warlpiri speech and songs.

²¹ The pattern of diphthongization is actually more complex than this and is beyond the scope of this paper. The pattern is discussed for Arandic song in Turpin (2007b: 104).

²² A line may be longer than this only if it is the sole line in a verse.

²³ Silences are, however, permitted in the setting of the rhythmic text to the melodic contour, which is a performance level phenomenon.

²⁴ These rhythmic constraints are common in song cross-linguistically (see Burling 1966).

²⁵ The realization of the vocable is sometimes rna, sometimes na, and sometimes nya, hence we refer to it as na.

²⁶ See for example line 37.

²⁷ Consider the first two beats of the many lines of ‘What shall we do with a drunken sailor’, which permits anywhere between two syllables (e.g. ‘Hoo-ray’ (… up she rises)) to six (‘Put him in the long boat’).

²⁸ In the examples which follow, bars are separated by a single vertical line and lines by a double vertical line. Crosses mark the accompanying clapsticks, although in some song items clap accompaniment is absent. The sung text is in standard Warlpiri orthography, but deviates from it to indicate the phonetic properties of the sung words, as well as separating each sung syllable with a space. Below the sung text is the Warlpiri spoken equivalent showing morpheme boundaries (- suffix; = enclitic) and phrase boundaries (∣); vocable is signalled by na. Abbreviations used in the morphological gloss are: 1 = first person, 2 = second person, 3 = third persion, all = allative, aux = auxiliary, dat = dative, elat = elative, erg = ergative, ex = exclusive, imp = imperative, int = interrogative, loc = locative, pl = plural, prs = present, pst = past, ptt = presentational present tense, s = subject, sg = singular, thi = thither, voc = vocable.

²⁹ In yawulyu performances a nullanulla stood upright in the ground symbolizes a Dreaming ancestor central to the ceremonial complex.

³⁰ Enclitic placement thus rules out the alternate line division as ∣∣ wangkaja marntamarntakurla ∣∣ wangkaja yapurrkurakurla ∣∣ as this requires the enclitic to be on the verb.

³¹ Where a lateral consonant is followed by a nasal consonant in the formation of a compound, or in a borrowed word, the lateral assimilates to the nasal; thus underlying puwaly-nguna is pronounced (and sung) as puwany-nguna (line 22).

³² This pattern of starting a line with the final syllable of a line is characteristic of Arandic songs (Hale 1984; Turpin 2005: 236).

³³ It is not clear how the text in the first bar is interpreted by the singers. An alternate analysis is ngayi = rna with the limiting particle ngayi (∼ ngari) ‘just’ and the first person singular enclitic pronoun, or ngayi + na (vocable). However, given that the spoken form of the text is invariably Murrunjari nyinalulu-kangu without the limiting particle, we regard the analysis given in example (12) as more probable.

³⁴ Unlike [a] and [i], sung [u] is unattested on a long note in our corpus.

³⁵ In many song items the second syllable of this word is elided and so the word is set to cell 2, .

³⁶ The speech equivalent of this morpheme is not entirely clear.

³⁷ Only two songs from this song series are found in our corpus, so it is difficult to make generalizations about it.

³⁸ The four-note cell could also be analysed as two two-note cells. Note too that cells differing in their numbers of beats are not unusual in central Australian song series (e.g. Turpin & Ross 2013).

³⁹ Wirliyajarrayi is the Warlpiri name for an important site on Willowra, and is used to refer to Willowra more generally.

⁴⁰ Glowczewski's recordings are archived on Online Digital Sources and Annotation System at www.odsas.net.

⁴¹ In the 17 songs that have the same verb in both lines, we make the line division after the verb rather than before it. We feel this is justified as lines that have contrasting verbs are unambiguously verb final in our corpus. However, the Warlpiri ngatijirri yawulyu performed by women from Lajamanu recorded by Glowczewski does not show as strong a tendency for verbs to be line final. Whether this reflects an influence from northern Australian musical styles remains to be investigated.

⁴² The first word of song 34 (line 61), for example is jampartiyi ‘somebody’, perhaps replacing a tabooed Warlpiri word.