Songs that will keep ancestral languages alive: a Marrku songset from western Arnhem land

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dc.contributor.authorBrown, Reuben
dc.contributor.authorEvans, Nicholas
dc.contributor.editorJim Wafer
dc.contributor.editorMyfany Turpin
dc.date.accessioned2019-09-17T01:03:56Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.date.updated2020-11-22T07:51:37Z
dc.description.abstractWhen songs are performed in socially meaningful and memorable contexts, they can act as vehicles that carry aspects of an individual�s language and identity, sometimes long after that person dies and his or her language is no longer spoken. In this chapter we present an illustrative case study from western Arnhem Land: the Milyarryarr (�black heron�) song-set, which is associated with the �extinct� languages of Marrku, Manangkardi, and Ilgar but continues to be performed by songman Johnny Namayiwa. Before his death in 2003, the late Charlie Wardaga, who spoke these languages, handed over the songs to Namayiwa. While the languages were not part of Namayiwa�s linguistic repertoire, he was able to identify some song words in order to work up translations in Marrku with Nicholas Evans, who had previously worked with Wardaga. Namayiwa performs and teaches his inherited song-set in a variety of public ceremonial contexts. These include funeral ceremonies, Mamurrng (diplomacy) ceremonies, local festivals and celebrations. He has also added to the song-set some new compositions that were given to him in dreams. Public ceremony is prominent in western Arnhem Land, and song-sets such as Milyarryarr are performed alongside others in order to enact important social transitions and transactions. We suggest that it is this performance context that has enabled the transmission of knowledge of ancestral languages that are no longer spoken, which otherwise might not have been passed on.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_AU
dc.identifier.isbn978-1-922185-40-2en_AU
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/170471
dc.language.isoen_AUen_AU
dc.publisherHunter Press
dc.relation.ispartofRecirculating Songs: Revitalising the Singing Practices of Indigenous Australia
dc.relation.isversionof1st Edition
dc.rights© 2017 by Jim Wafer and Myfany Turpin
dc.source.urihttps://hunterpress.bigcartel.com/product/recirculating-songs-revitalising-the-singing-practices-of-indigenous-australiaen_AU
dc.titleSongs that will keep ancestral languages alive: a Marrku songset from western Arnhem land
dc.typeBook chapter
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage288en_AU
local.bibliographicCitation.placeofpublicationAustralia
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage275en_AU
local.contributor.affiliationBrown, Reuben, University of Melbourneen_AU
local.contributor.affiliationEvans, Nicholas, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANUen_AU
local.contributor.authoremailrepository.admin@anu.edu.auen_AU
local.contributor.authoruidEvans, Nicholas, u1454988en_AU
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIESen_AU
local.description.refereedYes
local.identifier.absfor200406 - Language in Time and Space (incl. Historical Linguistics, Dialectology)en_AU
local.identifier.absfor160103 - Linguistic Anthropologyen_AU
local.identifier.absfor200319 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languagesen_AU
local.identifier.absseo950202 - Languages and Literacyen_AU
local.identifier.ariespublicationu5721749xPUB49en_AU
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu5721749en_AU
local.publisher.urlhttps://hunterpress.bigcartel.com/en_AU
local.type.statusPublished Versionen_AU

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