Alyawarr women's song-poetry of Central Australia. (2024)

Abstract: Central Australian songs are renowned for theirassociation with tracts of land and for texts that are difficult todecipher. The Alyawarr women's songs of the Antarrengenyland-holding group are remarkable in that most verses can be parsed intospeech equivalents with considerable consensus among the singers. Thesongs are thus revealing of how traditional Aboriginal verse isconstructed. Drawing upon recordings from 1977-2011, this paperidentifies 78 different verses, comprising 107 different lines ofpoetic-musical text. All 107 lines are set to one of 14 rhythmicpatterns, which are arrangements of smaller 2-note and 3-note rhythmicpatterns. Despite the transparency of the text, one question that arisesconcerns the role of the ubiquitous bar-initial consonant 'l',which appears to be the Alyawarr relativiser =arl ('where,which'), also comm+on in placenames. Is this its meaning in thesongs, or is it just a syllable inserted to achieve the preferred10-syllable line structurei This paper suggests that =arl is both: itenables the preferred line structure to be met and alludes to a placethrough its structural resemblance to a proper name. In an area wheresongs, like places, are owned by family groups, this structuralsimilarity expands the 'song-land relationship' (Moyle 1983).

1. Introduction

It has long been recognised that identifying words in AustralianAboriginal songs is a difficult and sometimes even impossible task(Clunies Ross et al. 1987; Marett 2005; Strehlow 1971; Tunstill 1995;Walsh 2010). This is partly because songs use words that are rarelyencountered in everyday speech and partly because the prosodic patternsof speech--stress, duration and pitch--are absent in song due to thesuperimposed musical structure.

This paper considers a set of traditional Aboriginal songs forwhich it is relatively straightforward to identify the words.Furthermore, the singers were unanimous in their view of the words,which is somewhat unusual for an oral tradition. Decoupled from its sungform, each line resembles a spoken utterance in its phonology, syntaxand lexicon. What is striking, however, is the limited number of formsthat the poetic lines take. Both their text and rhythm are highlyconstrained.

The outline of this paper is as follows. In the remainder of theintroduction I provide background on the ceremonial genre, the countryto which the songs and the singers relate, and their language, Alyawarr.Section 2 describes the corpus and methodology and Section 3 the melodyand verse structure of songs. Section 4 identifies the metrical units ofsong--rhythmic cells, also called dipods--and Section 5 discusses thelines, the fundamental unit of poetry and song. Section 6 identifies therelationship between lines within a verse and Section 7 concludes byconsidering the bar-initial consonant T, which provides a means ofachieving the preferred 10-syllable line. If this is the relativiser=arl, then poetic lines and placenames have much in common, providinglinguistic evidence that songs are not only associated with places butalso resemble placenames formally.

1.1 The awely genre

The Antarrengeny songs considered in this paper are of the awelygenre, a women's ceremonial performance genre. Like all CentralAustralian ceremonies, awely involves group singing, adorning the bodywith ritual designs, and dancing (Ellis 1985). (1) Ceremonies can invokeancestral powers and can also be a statement of local identity atintercultural exchanges and a social activity (Wild 1987). Awely ispractised over a vast area of Central Australia, where it is referred toin many other languages by the cognate term yawulyu (Barwick et al.2013; Moyle 1997).

A ceremonial performance consists of singing a selection of versesfrom one or more song series. The Antarrengeny awely song series isfrequently performed with verses of the Tyaw song series, as theancestral women from Antarrengeny travelled north to Tyaw country, inthe Davenport Ranges. Each verse is set to a much longer melodic contourand so repeats without a break two or more times. These units ofsinging, which are usually between 30 and 60 seconds long, are not namedin Alyawarr but have been referred to as 'song items' inanalysis (Barwick 1989:13, 2011:319; Treloyn 2006; Turpin 2007:96).There are nearly always two or three song items of each verse beforecommencing a new verse. The multiple items of the one verse have beenreferred to in analysis as 'small songs' (Ellis et al.1990:105; Turpin 2007:96). Figure 1(a) illustrates how a song series ismade up of small songs (identified by their verse), which in turn aremade up of song items.

Figure 1(b): The organization of a verseVerse 9 Kwerrparelarl nawarrtyernek (Line 69) Where a beam of light was shining Aherrkelamay alhernek (Line 70) Was it daylight shining?

This paper is primarily concerned with verses, the repeatingtwo-line unit on which a song item is based (Figure lb). A verse can bereferred to in Alyawarr as akert (literally 'tip, edge'). Thisimplies that a song is part of a linear stretch, which is comparable tothe polysemy of the Mangarrayi term for 'verse' described byMerlan (1987:148) as 'a shared linear element, perhaps a notion of"stretch" or "extent"'. Verse structure isdiscussed further in Section 3.2.

1.2 The Antarrengeny estate

The song series considered in this paper is associated with theAntarrengeny estate, which lies some 300 kilometres north-east of AliceSprings. As is common across most of Central Australia, people have aprimary affiliation to the estate that belongs to their father'sfather. People have a secondary affiliation to the estate that belongsto their mother's father (Moyle 1983:66). Paternal affiliation tothe Antarrengeny estate is associated with the Kemarr/Pwerl patricoupleand maternal affiliation is associated with the opposite patricouple,Kngwarray/Petyarr. (2)

Each song series relates to the specific flora, fauna or othernatural features (often referred to in English as 'totems' or'Dreamings') that have their spiritual origins in that estate.The main totem of the Antarrengeny estate is apeng (desert kurrajong,Brachychiton gregorii). Further details of this estate are discussed inTurpin and Ross (2013).

1.3 Origins of the songs

Awely songs and dances are not consciously composed by people butare regarded as the creations of female ancestral spirits calledkwerrimp (cf. Clunies Ross et al. 1987:5). A person may be camping outon country and be given an awely song from a kwerrimp in her sleep. Oncea song has been received, it is performed and, if well received, passeddown orally through the generations.

Many of the Antarrengeny songs were received by a woman calledLarrtyew. Larrtyew gave them to her older brother's daughter, BigPolly (Moyle 1986:37), who in turn passed them on to her brother'sdaughters, Katie and Mary Kemarr, the current singers. Relatives whor*ceived awely songs and have passed away may in turn become kwerrimpand give songs to their living relatives. Mary Kemarr referred toLarrtyew, whose name is in Line 47, (3) as a kwerrimp in 2007. (4)Similarly, the deceased relative Artwengerr, named in Line 46, is alsoreferred to as a kwerrimp. Big Polly, Mary and Katie's aunt,received two verses, 27 and 69, relatively recently. While these songswere recognised as new songs in 1978 (Moyle 1986:68), the artisticcreativity of all songs is attributed to kwerrimp as opposed to livingpeople. For the Alyawarr-speaking people of Central Australia, the realmin which this occurs is the Altyerr, often translated as'Dreamtime'. Although 'new' songs can be revealed topeople in dreams, the massive social upheaval resulting fromcolonisation, the lack of performance opportunities this has brought andthe rapid spread of popular culture through new media mean that thisrarely happens today. Consequently, whether the Antarrengeny awely is anopen or closed song set is uncertain.

1.4 The Alyawarr language

Alyawarr is spoken by approximately 1500 people north-east of AliceSprings (Green 1992).

Alyawarr is one of a number of linguistic varieties within thelarger Arandic language-dialect complex. There is a sketch grammar ofAlyawarr (Yallop 1977) and a substantial dictionary (Green 1992). Itssound system is discussed by Breen (2001). Alyawarr permits a largenumber of adjacent consonants (the sounds of Alyawarr are shown inAppendix 2); in song, however, the first consonant is often omitted. Forexample, antyeylp ('smashed', Line 45) is sung antyeyp, andarnkerrth ('thorny devil', Line 83) is sung arnketh.

All Alyawarr words end in a non-contrastive vowel. This vowelelides if the next word begins with a vowel. In Alyawarr the final vowelis only written on short words (e.g. atha T) and not on longer words,such as the language name itself (e.g. Alyawarr('alyawarra')). In speech, stress typically falls on the firstconsonant-initial syllable (e.g. kwerrimp) and if the word starts with avowel, as most words do, then this is the second syllable (e.g.Alyawarr). Long (polysyllabic) suffixes are also stress-bearing units.For example, in (1) the suffix areny, meaning 'from', is astress-bearing unit, and thus its own prosodic word, separate from thepreceding word Ankarr, a placename.

1. Ankarr-areny

place name-from

'The ones from Ankarr'

As shown in this paper, a well-formed line of Antarrengeny verserequires counting syllables and prosodic words and matching each to therhythmic units of songs.

2. The corpus

This study is based on 17 awely performances recorded between 1977and 2011 (Table l). (5) Songs from other song series that were performedare not included in the number of verses in Table 1.

From a total of 1002 song items, 78 different Antarrengeny verseswere performed, some of which differ only marginally. (6) These comprise107 unique lines of text set to an unvarying rhythm. Some of theserhythmic text lines occur in more than one verse, as shown in Table 2.

Of the 29 lines that occur in more than one verse, 19 occur in twoverses, six in three verses and four in four verses.

2.1 Methodology

The process of analysing Antarrengeny songs involved gatheringexisting records of performances and recording further performances.Recordings were analysed for song items and verses, and an exemplar songitem of each verse was played back to the singers to elicit the spokenequivalents and meanings. In addition, traditional narratives associatedwith the stories and the making of traditional ceremonial items wererecorded and the sites to which the songs referred were visited. (7) Inthese non-elicited contexts, singers also spoke the lines of songs andreferred to aspects of their meanings, providing valuable evidence forthe words in songs, as they were given spontaneously.

Identifying the words in song texts has a number of difficultiesnot encountered in Aboriginal narratives and other types of spokendiscourse. They can be difficult to divide into meaningful units, asthey are more artefact-like than speech. One part of a verse may haveeasily identifiable speech equivalents, and thus be transparent, whileanother part may be quite opaque. In this respect songs resembleplacenames; Walsh (2002:44) sites the place 'Erskineville' asa mixture of an opaque first element, 'Erskine', and a moretransparent second part, 'ville', meaning town. This mixtureof transparency and opacity is a feature of Aboriginal songs, but theAntarrengeny songs are, on the whole, remarkably transparent, suggestinga recent origin. Table 3 summarises the few opaque aspects of the songs.

In most cases the five unconfirmed segments of text in Table 3 havea corresponding likely word. These portions of the text are given inparentheses, as illustrated in (2), where '(renh=ap ar+entyan+enh+ek)' is the likely morphological breakdown, although thiswas not confirmed conclusively by the singers.

2.

kankarre renha perantya nenha (Line 96) ankarr (renh=ap ar+entyan+enh+ek) gully 3SG=EMPH see+DS sit+PATH+PST (?)

In many cases the eight unconfirmed meanings in Table 3 also have alikely meaning. This is represented by (?), as illustrated in Line 23,(3), with a likely gloss of arnkawam-arnkawam as'restless!?)'. In this instance, the same word appears in aneighbouring Kaytetye song, which provides some evidence for theproposed meaning 'restless'. The nine lines with unconfirmedtranslations in Table 3 are also represented with (?), as illustrated in(2).

3.

kalima nkawi mankawi mena (Line 23)

alem arnkaw+am-arnkawam an+ek

liver restless(?)=ALL-RED sit+PST

She felt anxious

Compared to many other traditional songs in the region, the numberof unknown morphemes, glosses and free translations in the Antarrengenysongs is small, thus providing a significant corpus for understandingthe formation of traditional Aboriginal verse.

3. Song structure

Throughout Central Australia each song series has its own melodiccontour to which all verses are set (Ellis and Barwick 1987). Bothmelodic contour and verse are discussed in this section.

3.1 Melodic contour

In Alyawarr the melodic contour is referred to as an ikwa, as it isin neighbouring Kaytetye (Turpin 2007). The word ikwa is highlypolysemous and its many translations include 'taste','scent', 'subsection' and, more recently,'tune' of other types of music. These multiple senses supportan underlying meaning of ikwa as 'characteristic, definingfeature', as proposed by Ellis et al. (1978) for a similar, if notidentical, concept, mayi, in Pitjantjatjara.

The melodic contour specifies a sequence of pitches and theirrelative length. The Antarrengeny melodic contour is schematised inFigure 2. The Antarrengeny ikwa consists of two sections: an initialSolo section followed by a Group singing section, usually sung two tofour times to complete a song item. The end of a section is alwayspunctuated by a breath intake. The Group section has two melodicphrases: the first consists of pitch movement characterised by aninitial leap of a third, and the second a repeated tonic, represented bythe dotted phrase line in Figure 2. A pitch that always has more thanone note attack is represented by a square box. A sequence of pitchesthat can be repeated to accommodate longer texts is represented withparentheses. The slur represents two pitches that are set to one noteattack (i.e. a type of ornament).

3.2 Verse structure

Most verses consist of two lines, for convenience labelled A and B.A song item can commence with either line, as is common in CentralAustralia (Barwick 1989). Each line repeats before commencing the otherline, thus creating an AABB structure. The verse is thus a quatrain(four lines), as shown in Figure 3.

The vast majority of verses are AABB, although five verses consistof a single repeating line (Table 4). (11) One 3-line verse wasencountered (Verse 57); however this was not from a performance but sungspontaneously while demonstrating the making of ceremonial string. Assuch, it is excluded from Table 4, as it may have been a performanceerror.

Verses, couplets and lines are the organisational units of text andrhythm. These rhythmic texts are very different to their spoken form, asshown in the next section. When referring only to rhythmic or textualfeatures of the organisational units, the terms 'rhythmicline' or 'text line' make this clear. Otherwise, theterms 'verse', 'line' and 'dipod' shouldbe taken as referring to a unit of rhythmic text.

Figure 3: AABB--the most common verse structurein Antarrengeny awelyVerse 40A Itneyarrelarl Where the teenage girl walked (Line 82)iter-iter-antek round and roundA Itneyarrelarl Where the teenage girl walkediter-iter-antek round and roundB Apeng-intherarl Where there lay discarded pulp (Line 85)iter-iter-antek of the kurrajong roots, she walked round and roundB Apeng-intherarl Where there lay discarded pulpiter-iter-antek of the kurrajong roots, she walked round and round

3.3 Setting a verse to the melodic contour

A song item is a repeating verse set to a melodic contour. A songitem may end at any point in the verse structure and singing often diesout before the completion of a line. The most common way of setting averse to the melodic contour (Section 2) is illustrated in Figure 4.Here, couplet A is set to the Solo section of the melodic contour andcouplet B to the first Group section, with one B line per melodicphrase. Couplets A and B are set to the second Group section, with onecouplet per phrase. Couplets and lines can be matched to the melodiccontour in different ways, and variation across the song items of asmall song is the norm. A complex set of interactions determines theexact melodic setting (cf. Barwick 1989), but this is beyond the scopeof the present paper, which is concerned with the rhythmic setting oftext.

4. Rhythmic cells/dipods

All 107 Antarrengeny rhythmic lines are built on combinations oftwo different rhythmic patterns, called 'rhythmic cells'(Ellis 1985:93; Keogh 1990; Marett 2005; Treloyn 2006:149). (12) Thesecorrespond to 'metrical feet' or 'dipods' inlinguistic studies of poetry and song (Hayes and Kaun 1996). Figure 5shows the two rhythmic cells in the Antarrengeny songs. One is a 2-notepattern (a); the other is a 3-note pattern (b). These are two and threebeats long respectively, as signalled by the singer's regularhand-clapping accompaniment represented as 'x' in Figure 5.Both dipods consist of a short note on the beat followed by longer notesmisaligned with the beat. The dipods are abbreviated throughout thispaper as [2] and [3] respectively.

Dipods are the rhythmic units to which prosodic words (henceforth'word') are set. The rules for setting words to dipods are asfollows:

* set the first syllable of a word to the first note of a dipod

* syllabify the last consonant of the previous word as the onset ofthe following word.

The application of these principles is illustrated in (4), wherethe three-syllable word ankarr [an.'ka.rra] ('gully') isset to a 3-note dipod, with the last consonant of the previous word,'k', syllabified at the beginning of the word.

4.

kan ka rra

... anek ankarr

... was gully

For words of more than three syllables, a combination of dipods isused. This is illustrated in (5) with the 6-syllable word anwekakerrenh[a.'nwe.ka.ke.rre.nha] ('our'). Each syllable is assignedone note of the two 3-note dipods. The last consonant of the previousword, 'k', is syllabified at the beginning of the word.

5.

ka na ka ke rre nha

... anek anwekakerrenh

... was 1 pi.POS

The syllabification of a word-final consonant as the beginning ofthe next word has been coined 'consonant transfer' (Hale1984). It is encountered in other Arandic songs (Strehlow 1971; Turpin2007), where it can be understood as providing an initial consonant tothe following vowel-initial word, thus creating a full consonant+vowelsyllable on the first (strong) beat of a bar.

5. Lines

Lines are groupings of dipods and these are the organisationalunits of song that combine text and rhythm at the level of a grammaticalphrase or sentence. I first consider the rhythmic aspects of lines andthen the textual aspects.

5.1 Rhythmic lines

All 107 lines consist of 14 different rhythmic patterns, summarisedin Table 5.

Table 5 shows that lines must have at least two dipods. When thereare four or more dipods, a higher level of division within the line isrecognised, the hemistich, literally 'half line'. Like dipods,these can be binary or ternary. Thus at all levels of the rhythmichierarchy a line is either binary or ternary and ungrouped elements arenot permitted. This can be stated as: a dipod must have two or threenotes and a hemistich must have two or three dipods. A line must be twoor three of either of these.

Table 5 shows that the preferred line length is four dipods (twohemistiches). These make up 73% of all lines. The preferred rhythmicpattern of the four dipods is [3232], totalling 10 notes. This isexemplified in (6).

6.

ke le ri nye la la rra ma la na (Line

rlwereny+el=arl arrern+erl-an+ek

stranger+ERG=REL put+LIG-CNT+PST

The stranger was adorning (it)

From Table 5 it can be seen that there are four other rhythmicpatterns of four dipods long: two 11-note patterns, [3332] and [3233],and two 12-note patterns, [3252] and [3333]. There are three rhythmicpatterns three-dipods long: a 7-note pattern [322] and two 8-notepatterns, [332] and [323], The minimal line length is two dipods long[33]. Turning now to lines longer than the preferred four dipods, wefind only two lines of five dipods long, both of which are 13-notepatterns. The maximal line is six dipods long, of which there are twopatterns, a 16-note and 17-note pattern. These account for only 3% oflines. The one 8-dipod/21-note line has three hemistiches: [332] [332][32].

This line is one of five lines that make up an entire verse on itsown. (14)

There is a clear preference for lines to have 10 or 11 notes. No9-note lines ([333] or [3222]) or 14-note or 15-note lines are attestedin this song series. A feature of the rhythmic lines is that a dipodwith more notes can never follow one with less. That is, dipod sequences[33], [32] and [22] are attested, while [23] is not. Only if thesequence crosses a hemistich boundary is this possible (i.e. [32][32],where adjacent 2 and 3 belong to separate hemistiches).

In summary, the number of rhythmic notes and their arrangementwithin a line is highly constrained to a binary or ternary structure.That is, there can be no lines with one or four hemistiches, nohemistiches with one or four dipods, and no dipods with one or fournotes. As will be shown, there is a one-to-one relationship betweenrhythmic units and text units, and thus the number of syllables andtheir arrangement into words is highly constrained.

5.2 Text Unes

Most lines consist of only two lexical words. In many respects thepoetic lines, divorced from their rhythmic setting, resemble everydayspoken Alyawarr. Consider the line in (7), where all parts of the textcorrespond to everyday Alyawarr morphology, syntax and phonology.

7. Rlwereny+el=arl artep-ar+enh+ek (Line 36)

stranger+ERG=REL back-see+PATH+PST

The stranger glanced behind on her journey

In this section I consider the text of the 107 lines. I show thatthey draw from a delimited set of semantic themes (cf. Merlan 1987),have a small pool of vocabulary and that they adhere to a fixed wordorder.

5.2.1 Semantic themes of the lines

The five broad semantic themes encountered in the 107 lines areshown in Table 6, ordered in terms of their frequency. Note thatmultiple themes can occur within the one line. Each of these themes isexemplified and discussed below.

Women's ceremony is the most frequent theme. It includestopics such as adorning ritual items (8) and dancing (9), which areusually accompanied by actions that reflect their subject matter.Ancestral beings are referred to overtly in 33 lines, as in (7), (8) and(9).

8. Rlwereny+el=arl arrern+elh+enh+ek (Line 27) stranger+ERG=REL put+REF+PATH+PST The stranger adorned (it)9. Kwerrimp=arl=(al) anty+elp-anty+enh+ek (Line 32) woman=REL=(?) jump+INCP-jump+PATH+PST

The ancestral woman jumped up (to dance)

Placenames (10), topographical features (11) and flora (12) withthe primary function of identifying a location are referred to in 31lines. The prevalence of this theme reflects the ancestral women'sjourney across the country and the role of songs in locating andmemorising locations.

10. Alererrepwenty=arl ar+enh+erl-an+em (Line 62) place.name=REL see+PATH+LIG-CNT+np (The place) Alererrepwenty (15) came into view11. Ilpay-ilpay+el (Line 75) creek-RED+LOC At a small creek12. Apmikw-irr+enty=arl amper-amper-irr+enh+ek (Line 24) pine-INCH+DS=REL round-INCH+PATH+PST Where the native pines grow (they) turnedHunting, food preparation and finding water are themes of ten lines,as in (13).13. Tha+arnkerrth-arnkerrth ampern+erl-an+ek (Line 83) lsgERG+throny.devil-RED cook+LIG-CNT+PST Cooking a thorny devilEmotions, such as anger, sadness and anxiety, are themes of sixlines, although the events that lead to these feelings are usuallynot stated, as in (14).14. Antyart-antyart+el=arl arrern+erl-an+em (Line 83) hopping-ERG=REL put+LIG-CNT+np Hopping ready to fightAn interesting case of anger is the line in (15), which refers tolooking at a woman's thighs. In traditional Alyawarr society awomen's ritual fight commences with quivering thighs, thus the lineis a metonym for anger.15. Kwerrimp inapeny ar+enh+erl-an+em (Line 93) a.woman lap see+PATH+LIG-CNT+np Looking at the ancestral woman's thighsIn many cases the theme of sadness is coupled with reference to aparticular place, as in (16), which sing-ers regard as referring to aplace on their homelands called Aketh-aketh.16. Anwekakerrenh+el amperrng=arl iw+ek (Line 55) lpl.POS.SMOG+ERG sad=REL throw+PST Our country made us sad

5.2.2 Vocabulary

The 107 lines draw from a limited set of vocabulary of 103 nominaisand verb stems. Thirty-seven (35%) of these words occur in more than oneline (Table 7).

The most-often recurring stems are are- ('see') occurringin 14 lines, lwewarrern- ('show') in 11 lines and arrerne-('put') in nine lines. In relation to nominais we findkwerrimp ('ancestral woman') in nine lines, arlkeny('ceremonial stripes') and the pronoun anwekakerrenh('our (lplSMOG)') in seven lines, and thar ('slope,steep') seven times across six lines.

In addition to the reuse of vocabulary, different words often referto similar concepts. For example, aylak-aylak ('we(IduSMOG)'), which refers to two groups of people who are relatedas aunts and nieces (i.e. two groups of patrimoieties), is closelyrelated in meaning to anwekakerrenh ('our'), referred toabove. Another example is the many words that mean 'shine' orthat refer to things with a shiny or white appearance. These 14 words,occurring in 16 lines, are shown in Table 8.

Some of the words in Table 8 refer to light rather than ceremonialobjects, as in (17). However, even here a word from the ceremonialdomain, 'dancing stick', is used metaphorically to mean'beam' or 'ray' of light. 17

17. kwerrpar+el=arl naw-arrtyern+ek (Line 69)dancing.stick+ERG=REL RSP-shine+PSTWhere a beam of light was shining

5.2.3 Provenance of the lexicon

A number of words in the songs are rarely heard in everyday speech.Their scarcity may be due to one of four reasons. In some cases thewords are highly specialised and would not be encountered outside ofsongs, such as the verbs ywerrpernkernek (Lines 100, 101) andrlwerrmanternek (Line 99), which both refer to ways of meeting inceremony. A second reason is that some words refer to things that havefallen out of use, such as amerterr, a type of traditional skirt nolonger worn (Lines 102-204). A third reason is that the words may belongto a unique song register vocabulary, such as iylerlkarr('ceremonial white headband') (Line 15), which has an everydayspeech equivalent, iyterlarr. Finally, some words are borrowed fromneighbouring languages, such as arlwey ('father') (Line 1) inneighbouring Kaytetye.

<0GLP017H_TB001>

Sometimes it is difficult to know the provenance of a word. Forexample, antyart-antyart ('shaking') (Line 91) refers to theway a woman shakes her thighs before fighting. This word resemblesneighbouring Anmatyerr antyater-antyater and Kaytetye antyarte, whichhave a similar meaning to that in the song. The word could thus be aborrowing or a song register word. In other cases the word may simplyhave fallen out of use, such as arrakimim (Line 77), which refers to theflower of a type of mistletoe. Whether this is only attested in song orsimply a rare word is not clear.

In some lines there are combinations of everyday speech words thatare unattested in spoken language. For example, ingketyam-ilarrtyam(Line 47) is based on the word for foot, ingkety, plus the name of theancestor to which the song refers, Larrtyew. The word as a whole is notattested in speech and the partial reduplication suggests asong-specific form. In some instances these unusual words revealinteresting semantic associations. For example, iylerlkarr, a song wordwith a speech equivalent, iyterlarr ('ceremonial whiteheadband'), is derived from the everyday word iylerlkenng('Sandover lily', Crinum flaccidum). This plant has a strikingwhite flower, and, as we have seen, awely draws on the aesthetics ofwhiteness, possibly because this quality is associated with causingeffect in the world. Thus the link between the Sandover lily andwomen's headbands is their whiteness, which is particularlypertinent in the context of awely.

The exotic language found in awely brings to mind the Altyerr('Creation time'). Songs originate from ancestral beings ofthe country, and these beings have their own language, different to thatspoken by people today. The song texts are sprinkled with unusuallanguage precisely because ancestral women, kwerrimp, have created them.

5.2.4 Line length and word order

Unlike speech, poetry and song are characterised by restrictions online length. A further difference in spoken Alyawarr is that verbs andnouns can occur in any order depending on the pragmatic context. Insong, however, verbs only ever occur at the end of a line. (17) Table 9shows the distribution of nominais and verbs across the lines. It can beseen that verbs only occur in line-final position and that there is apreference for lines to be two phrases long: a nominal plus verb (NV).

In spoken Alyawarr, verbless sentences are common, whereas in songthere is a clear preference for lines to have a verb, as can be seen inTable 10. Note that the nominal can be an agent, subject or object.

5.3 Putting text and rhythm together

Section 4 showed that a word is set to one or more dipods and thatthe last consonant of a word is syllabified as the onset of thefollowing word. These same rules apply when setting a complete line oftext to rhythm. This is exemplified by the line in (18), the openingsong of the series, which refers to the main Antarrengeny totem, thedesert kurrajong tree, and specifically where the ancestral women sawand heard its empty seedpods. (21)

18.

karlwiya laneka kerre nherrpenpa renherre lanay ntyeranha lanaarlwey=arl anwekakerrenh irrpenpar+enh+err+erl-an+enty ar+enh+erl-an+ekfather=REL 1pl.POS.SMOG rattle+PATH+PL+LIG-CNT+DS see+PATH+LIG-CNT+PST

Our ancestral fathers, that were rattling in the wind, came intoview on our journey

This unusually long line--in effect two rhythmic lines (cf. Section6.1)--consists of three phrases. The first two combine to form theobject of the main verb: [[[Our father who] [was rattling in the wind]][came into view]]. The first phrase consists of the word arlwey('totemic father'), (22) and anwekakerrenh ('our')(belonging to the patricouple, e.g. aunt and niece). This phrase haseight syllables [a.rlwe.ya.rla.nwe. ka.ke.rrenh] and is thus set to the[332] rhythmic pattern. It can be seen that the last consonant of thefirst word, 'rl', forms the onset of the following word, andlikewise 'nh' becomes the onset of the second phrase. Thesecond phrase consists of a single complex word that also totals eightsyllables [irr.pen.pa.re. nhe.rre.rla.nenty] and is thus set to the[332] pattern. Again, the last consonant 'nty' forms the onsetof the next and final word. The final phrase is the everyday verb'see', which has five syllables [a.re.nhe.rla. nek] and isthus set to the [32] pattern. The last consonant 'k' forms theonset of the next word, in this case the first word of this line. Inverses with two lines, it forms the onset of the following line.

6. Verse formation (conventions at the level of the verse)

So far we have discussed the structure of individual lines;however, most lines are paired to create a verse and, as mentionedabove, consonant transfer works at the level of the verse. In thissection I consider the relationship between the two lines of the 73verses (23) in terms of their meanings, syntax, morphology and rhythm.

6.1 Meaning

The semantic relationships between the two lines of verse are ofthree main types. One type is where the verse expresses a single clauseinvolving two participants, typically agent and object. These aredivided between the two lines with the verb occurring in both, thusthere tends to be morphological parallelism in such verses. The'agent-object' relationship is found in 20 verses andexemplified in (19).

19. Verse 36 Arnkely-arnkely+el=arl lwewarrern+ek (Line 33) sulky-REL+ERG=REL show+PST The sulky woman revealed, Arlkeny-malangk=arl lwewarrern+ek (Line 7) design-lovely=REL show+PST Revealed the lovely designs.

The second type of relationship is where the lines express the sameidea but in different ways. Semantic parallelism often disambiguatesbetween multiple possible subjects. It occurs in 15 verses and isexemplified in (21), where the high frequency word kiverrimp('ancestral woman') is replaced with a descriptive term,'curly-haired', in the alternate line.

20. Verse 21 kwerrimp=arl=ay arnp+arnp+enh+ek (Line 39) woman=REL=EMPH leave+leave+PATH+PST The ancestral woman set off, Aka amikw-amikw arn+elp+enh+ek (Line 40) head curly leave+leave+PATH+PST The curly-haired one set off.

The most common relationship between the two lines is where theyare simply juxtaposed, a literary device called 'parataxis'(Barwick 2005). As noted by Treloyn (2007) for other Aboriginal songs,juxtaposition invites connection, yet the nature of the connection canbe varied. Sometimes it is sequential or causative, as in (21), whichrefers to the way body designs glisten once white ochre has beenapplied.

21. Verse 66 Ngwenty-ngwenty=arl arn+elh+enh+erl-an+ (Line 10) white.ochre=REL put+REF-PATH+PAST Adorning ourselves with white ochre, Arlkeny-malangk=arl alimarrarnk (Line 8) design-lovely=REL glisten+PST The lovely designs glistened.

In some cases juxtaposition can be interpreted as an elaboration ofthe first line. This is exemplified in

22. Verse 55 Ayart-ayart=arl ar+elh+enh+erl-an+ (Line 48) white. ochre=REL put+REF-PATH+PST Seeing her own big bosoms, Aylpaty pengarr=am (Line 49) breast pendulous=ALL Pendulous breasts.

6.2 Syntax

As stated in Section 5.2.4, most lines end in a verb. The few lineswithout a verb never co-occur in the one verse and so all verses have atleast one verb. Thus while syntactic parallelism is preferred, a versewith one verb is preferred over syntactic parallelism of no verbs. Thereis little parallelism of grammatical roles, as subjects and objects tendto be split among the lines of a verse, as discussed in Section 5.2.4.

6.3 Morphology

Morphological parallelism is illustrated in (23), where both lineshave the word iter-iter-ant+ek ('went round and round') inline-final position. In all cases the parallel word occupies the sameline-final position and has the same rhythmic setting. Twenty-two verses(30%) exhibit morphological parallelism.

23. Verse 40 Itneyarr+eLarl iter-iter-ant+ek (Line 78) girl+ERG=REL PL-run. around+PST The teenage girl went round and round, Apeng-inther+arl iter-iter-ant+ek (Line 81) kurrajong-pulp+REL PL-run.around+PST The kurrajong root pulp she went round and round.

The kurrajong root pulp she went round and round.

Parallelism of the verbal inflection alone, as illustrated in (24),is less frequent.

24. Verse 7ka kurrim pe la la rel pa re nhaKwerrimp+eh=arl ar+erlp-ar+enh+ek (Line 59)woman+ERG=REL see+INCP-see+PATH+npThe ancestral woman glanced (up) on her journeyka kurlpi the ra le tha ra rre nhaAkwerlp thar+arl thar-irr+enh+ek (Line 60)sandhill slope=REL slope-INCH+PATH+npDescending the steep sandhill on (her) journey

6.4 Rhythm

Twenty-five verses (34%) have the same rhythm in both lines, as in(24), where both lines have the preferred [3232] rhythmic pattern.Another common rhythmic relationship is where one line has one more notethan the other (cf. Treloyn 2006:303). This minimal rhythmic contrastoccurs in 17 verses (23%) and is illustrated in (25), where one line has10 notes and the other has 11.

25. Verse 7keparlay nerray ntyeranha lana (Line 55)perlayn-irr+enty ar+enh+erl-an+ekplain-INCH+DS see+PATH+LIG-CNT+PSTThe plain came into view on our journeykanaka kerrenha lamperrnga loway (Line 59)anwekakerrenh+el amperrng=arl iw+ek1pl.pos.smog+ERG sad=REL throw+PSTOur homeland made us sad

7. The similarity between lines and placenames

We have seen that Antarrengeny lines can be parsed into wordsrelatively easily. A question that remains to be answered is the role ofthe ubiquitous line-internal bar-initial consonant T, exemplified inboth lines of (23) and (24). There are 66 instances of this in thecorpus. One possibility is that T corresponds to the encl*tic =arl, asassumed by the glossing so far. In Alyawarr, this has two meanings: one,'that, which, where' (i.e. it marks a relative clause) and,two, where it signals contrastive information (which in English is oftendone with intonation). Before considering these two possibilities wemust first consider whether 7' has a communicative function at allin the songs, or whether it is used purely to meet the rhythmicrequirements.

Recall from Section 5 that the meter does not permit 9-noterhythmic lines, either [3222] or [333]. The use of =arl can be seen asproviding an additional syllable so as to avoid these unfavourablerhythmic patterns. Consider the lines of (24), bar 3: without 7'(=arl) these lines would be nine syllables and the preferred [32] [32]could not be met. If =arl is there to fulfil the metrical requirementsthis does not necessarily discount the possibility that it also has acommunicative function. Note that spoken versions of the lines do notprovide support one way or the other as they vary; sometimes with =arland sometimes without. Let us consider the three possible translationsof Line 60, (24):

(a) Descending the steep sandhill on their journey (=arl has purelypoetic function)

(b) It was a steep sandhill they descended on their journey (=arlas contrastive)

(c) Where the steep slope was descended (=arl has relativiserfunction).

The translation in (a) assumes =arl is simply a vocable with nocommunicative function, whereas in (b) it signals contrastiveinformation. Given that no other discourse markers are attested in thesongs and that parataxis is common (i.e. no linguistic marking of arelationship between lines), its meaning in (b) is unlikely. Thetranslation in (c) assumes =arl is a relativiser. This structureresembles many Alyawarr placenames, such as that in (26).

26. Apengarlayntem

apeng=arl aynt+em

kurrajong=REL lie+PRS

'Where the kurrajong tree lies' (place on the Utopiahomelands)

This headless relative clause structure is found in placenames ofother Australian languages (e.g. Baker 2002:114). Compare the Alyawarrplacename in (26) with Line 52 in (27):

27. Ilewerr+el=arl in+ek (Line 52)

mirage+ERG=REL lift+np

'Where the mirage shone' (lit. lifted it up)

Both the placename and Line 52 have a similar grammaticalstructure, namely 'Where X did Y'. Songs are considered byAlyawarr people to be names given by ancestral beings, as has beenobserved elsewhere in Australia (Clunies Ross et al. 1987:5; Tamisari2002:92). In some Aboriginal languages the word for 'song'also means 'name'--arritn (Turpin and Ross 2012:201).Additionally, some lines of verse also serve as a person's name(cf. Section 1.3, Sutton 1987:78). Lines also stand in for places innarrative and conversation in ceremonial performance. Utterances such as'They travelled to X' (where X is a line of a verse) areattested in the narratives spoken by the singers (see Turpin and Ross2013:14). Given the anthropological evidence that shows Aboriginal songsare closely associated with places (Marett 2005; Merlan 1987; Sutton1987), translations such as 'Where the mirage shone' and'Where the steep slope was descended' may be a plausibleinterpretation of lines where the first noun phrase ends in =arl, evenif =arl is also performing a metrical function. Such lines resemble aplacename in both their structure and in how they are used in spokendiscourse.

8. Conclusion

The choice of words and rhythms is highly regulated in theAntarrengeny awely song series, and the way they are meshed together isalso constrained. The meter counts words and syllables, matching theseone-to-one within the confines of rhythmic notes, dipods andhemistiches. Lines of text whose syllable count would otherwise beimpermissible (e.g. [32][22]) can be repaired with the addition of therelativiser =arl, thus achieving the preferred [32][32] metricalpattern. The choice of this particular suffix as a metrical repairstrategy may be the logical choice within the language, given that it isalso one way to form placenames. From the analysis of these verse lineswe can see that discerning whether particular text serves acommunicative or a metrical function is a vexing issue for studies ofsong. Consistency in the location of such text at metrical unitboundaries suggests it has a metrical function. The suggestion putforward here is that such sounds may simultaneously convey linguisticmeaning--in this case, that songs are places.

Appendix 1:

The 107 rhythmic lines in the Antarrengeny awely corpus

The layout of lines is as follows. The top row shows the underlyingrhythm. The exact durations of quavers and crotchets, and theiralignment with the clap beats, varies somewhat across performances.Rhythm is represented in standard musical notation. A bar line (l)represents a rhythmic cell boundary and a dotted double bar line([parallel]:...: [parallel]) shows that the line repeats before movingon to the other line of the verse. Underneath the rhythm, 'x'represents the regular hand-clap beating accompaniment.

The third row gives the sung syllables, the fourth row amorphological representation and the fifth a linguistic gloss. Glossingabbreviations are explained in Appendix 3. The italicised line is a freetranslation. Spelling of Alyawarr words follows Green (1992), althoughthe vowels in the sung line differ in the following ways: sung'i' is used instead of 'e' [i], sung 'o'instead of 'e'[o].

1.karlwiya laneka kerre nherrpenpa renherre lanay ntyeranha lanaarlwey=arl anwekakerrenh irrpenpar+enh+err+erl-an+enty ar+enh+erl-an+ekfather=REL lpl.POS.SMOG rattle+PATH+PL+LIG-CNT+DS see+PATH+LIG-CNT+PSTOur ancestral fathers that were rattling in the wind came into view onour journey2kankarre rinyi larrarna lanaa) Ankarr-areny=arl arrern+erl-an+ekplace-HAB=REL put+LIG-CNT+PSTAdorning the (designs) from Ankarrb) Ankarr-areny+el arrern+erl-an+ekplace-HAB+ERG put+LIG-CNT+PSTThe (woman) from Ankarr was adorningverse 37,56,613mantera larrarna lanaanter=arl arrern+erl-an+emfat=REL put+LIG-CNT+npAdorning the oil4martwaya larrarna lanartway=arl arrern+erl-an+emoil=REL put+LIG-CNT+npAdorning the healing oil5marlkinya larrarna lanaarlkeny=arl arrern+erl-an+emdesigns=REL put+LIG-CNT+npAdorning the designs6kankarre rinha mpeleway rrernaAnkarr-areny mpe+lwewarrern+ekplace-HAB RESP( ? )+show+PSTThe (designs) from Ankarr were revealed7karlkinya malangka lelowa rrernaarlkeny-malangk=arl lwewarrem+ekdesign-lovely=REL show+PSTThe lovely designs were shownverse 20,36,65,758karlkinyi mara nyelowa rrernaarlkeny marany lwewarrern+ekdesign proper show+PSTAnd the traditional designs were revealedverse 6,30,449kankarre rinha lamperrnga lowenhaAnkarr-areny+el amperrng=arl iw+enh+ekplace-HAB+ERG sadness=REL throvv+PATH+PSTThe (designs) from Ankarr made them sadverse 4710kanguntya nguntya larrarna lhenhangwentyengwenty=arl arrern+elh+enh+ekwhite.ochre=REL put+REF-PATH+PSTAdorning ourselves with white ochreverse 6,25, 66, 7611karlkinyi mara nyelima rrarnkaarlkeny marany alimarrarnk+ekdesign proper glisten+PSTThe traditional designs glistenedverse 7612karlkinyi malangka lalima rrarnkaarlkeny-malangk=arl alimarrarnk+ekdesign-lovely=REL glisten+PSTThe lovely designs glistenedverse 6613kanaka kerrenha larlkanya malangka lelima rrarnkaanwekakerrenh=arl arlkeny-malangk=arl alimarrarnk+ek1 pl.POS.SMOG=REL design-lovely=REL glisten+PSTOur lovely designs glistenedverse 2514kalkera loway rreloway rrerrayalker ilewerr-ilewerr-irr+entysky mirage-mirage-INCH+DSThe shimmering horizonverse 1415ntyerlerlka rrerla lalampay kelherlaiylerlkarr+el=arl alamperrk+elhel+ekheadband+ERG=REL glisten+CAUS+PSTThe headbands made it glistenverse 1416kalpiti malangka lelowa rrernaalpeyt-malangk=arl lwewarrern+ekbilby.tail-lovely=REL show+PSTThe bilby tail tip was shownVerse 16, 6417karrmalya rrmalya leloway rrernaarrmaly-arrmaly=arl lwewarrern+eksoft=REL show+PSTThe soft one was shownverse 1618keniya rrerla leloway rrernaitneyarr+ekarl lwewarrern+ekteenage.girl+ERG=REL show+PSTThe soft one was shownverse 6419kalera lera larrarna lhenhaarler-arler=arl arrern+elh+enh+eksmooth=REL put+REF+PATH+PSTAdorning the smooth oneverse 2820nalera lera lampvvare nyelaarlerarler=arl mpwar+enh+erl-an+smooth=REL make+PATH+LIG-CNT+Making it smoothverse 2921ngketepe nhemalaitepenh-malangknecklace-lovelyThe lonely necklaceverse 28,2922ketepe nhela leloway rrernaitepenh+el=arl lwewarrern+eknecklace+INST=REL show+PSTAdorning the smooth oneverse 4923kakurrim pela langerangera lenhakwernmp+el=arl ikngwer-ikngwer-el+enh+ekwoman+ERG=REL other-other-VT(?)+PATH+PSTThe ancestral woman changed (it) her journey (?)verse 5924kamikwi rrinyi lamperampera rrenhaapmikw-irr+enty=arl amper-amper-irr+enh+ekpine-INCH+DS=REL round-INCH+PATH+PSTWhere the native pines grow (they) turnedverse4125kakarlayn tenha lelela rrernakarlayntenh=arl lwew-lwew-arrern+ekheadband=REL show-FRQ+PSTThe headbands were shownverse 48,5926kakurrim pela lelela rrernakwerrimp+el=arl lwew-lwew-arrern+ekwoman+ERG=REL show-FRQ+PSTThe ancestral women showed themverse 4827keleri nyila larrema lhenharlwereny+el=arl arrern+elh+enh+ekStranger+ERG=REL put+REF+PATH+PSTThe stranger adorned (it)verse 1228karrkalpi larlkwanhayarrkaylp+el arlkw+enh+ekheaddress+ERG eat+PATH+PST(Her) headdress outshone (them)verse 1229kawura wura rternenhayawer+awer=art rtn+enh+eyquick+RED=(?) stand+PATH+POT(She) could dance quicklyverse 1730yakurrim mpela layepwi lhelakwerrimp+el=arl ayepw+elhel+eywoman+ERG=REL chase.off+CAUS+POTThe ancestral woman could out do themverse 1731kalima nkawi mankawi menaalem arnkaw=am-arnkawam an+ekliver restless! ?)=EMPH-RED sit+PSTShe felt anxiousverse 3332makurrim pela lantyarlpa ntyernakwerrimp=arl=(al) anty+elp-anty+enh+ekwoman=REL(?) jump+INCP-jump+PATH+PSTThe ancestral woman jumped upverse 3333karnkilyam kilyila lelowa rrernaarnkely-amkely+el=arl lwewarrern+eksulky+ERG=REL show+PSTThe sulky woman displayed themverse 3634keleri nyela larerla rerlalpirlwereny+el=arl ar+erl-ar+erl-alp+ekstranger+ERG=REL see+LIG-FRQ-do&retum+PSTThe stranger looked on as she returnedverse 1935kantike ninya larerla rerlalpiantekeneny+el ar+erl-ar+erl-alp+eksouth+ERG see+LIG-FRQ-do&retum+PSTThe one from the south looked on as she returnedverse 1936keleri nyela lartepa renharlwereny +el=arl artep-ar+enh+ekstranger+ERG=REL back-see+PATH+PSTThe stranger looked over her shoulderverse 1137wartepa ngartepa lalhila nekeartepang-artep=arl alhe+rl-an+ekbackwards-back=REL go+LIG-CNT+PSTThe stranger looked on as she returnedverse 11,7138kakurrim pela lartepa renhakwerrimp+el=arl artep-ar+enh+ekwoman+ERG=REL back-see+PATH+PSTThe ancestral woman looked over her shoulderverse 7139kakurrim pela yarnpalparn penhakwerrimp=arl=ay arnp+elp-arnp+enh+ekwoman=REL=EMPH leave+iNCP-leave+PATH+PSTThe ancestral woman set offverse 2140kakami kwami kwarnpalparn penhaaka amikw-amikw arnp+elp-arnp+enh+ekhead curly leave+INCP-leave+PATH+PSTThe curly-haired woman set offverse 2241karlirlpi marlil parnkenha lernaarleylp=am-arleylp arnk+enh+erl-an+protrouding=EMPH-RED emerge(?)+PATH+LIG-CNT+The big-bottomed woman shuffled alongverse 2242kurrmantya lelera welhakwerrmanty=arl arler-iw+elh+ekstring=REL slippery-throw+REF+PSTSmoothening the ceremonial hairstringverse 2243kartange rrengerra rinya lenoway lhenhayArtwengarr ikngerr-areny=arl itnew+elh+enh+ek(name) big-HAB=REL name+PATH+CNT+PSTname myself 'The one from the important place Artwengerr'verse 5044kampinya mpinyila larrtyowa tyernaampeny-ampeny+el=arl irrtyew-irrty+ern+ekdeserted+ERG=REL shine-RED-HITH+PSTEmptiness 'greeted us'verse 24,3445kanngantyi pela lanaltha lenhaanngantyeylp+el=arl atnalth-el+enh+ekblind+ERG=REL tracks-VT+PATH+PSTThe blind woman made lots of tracksverse 3446natyampe rampe rarelha nyelaatywa amper-amper ar+elh+enh+erl-an+calf bendy see+REF+PATH+LIG-CNT+Looking at (her) own bendy legsverse 2647mangketya merlerrtyaingkety=am ilarrty=amfoot=EMPH pigeon.toed= EMPH'(I am) Pigeon-toed'verse 2648nayarta yarta larelha nyelaayart-ayart=arl ar+elh+enh+erl-an+big. bosom=EMPH see+REF+PATH+LIG-CNT+Looking at (her) own big bosomsverse 5549marlpatyi pengarraaylpaty pengarr=ambreast pendulous=EMPH'(I have) 'Pendulous breasts'verse 55,7250yayarta yarta litera lanaayart-ayart=arl iter+el an+eybig.bosom=REL side+LOC sit+POT'Big breasts (swinging) side to side'verse 7251kelowe rrerla lenailewerr+el=arl in+ekmirage+ERG=REL get+PSTThere was a mirage (lit. a salt-crust lifted (it))verse 2,3,42,4652keparlay nerray ntyeranha lanaperlayn-irr+enty ar+enh+erl-an+ekplain-INCH+DS see+PATH+LlG-CNT+PST'Pelaynirrenty' came into view on our journeyverse 2,31,32,4153kanaka kerrenha lelowe rrerla lenaanwekakerrenh=arl ilewerr+el=arl in+eklpl.POS=REL mirage+ERG=REL get+PSTThere was a mirage on our country(lit. a salt-crust lifted our country)verse 31,4954kanaka kerrenha leparlay nerray ntyeranha lanaanwekakerrenh=arl perlayn-irr+enty ar+enh+erl-an+eklpl.POS.SMOG=REL plain-INCH+DS see+PATH+LIG-CNT+PSTOur country, Pelaynirrenty, came into view on our journeyverse 4655kanaka kerrenha lamperrnga lowayanwekakerrenh+el amperrng=arl iw+eklpl.POS.SMOG+ERG sad=REL throw+PSTOur country made us sadverse 3,32,2456kelarnka rlenangka lerrarlil pengkaLernkarlaneng+el arrarleylpengk+ekplace.name+LOC (?)+PSTPLACENAME IAt Lemkelaneng.. (?)verse 4257mekurra letha rarenha lernakwerr+el thar ar+enh+erl-an+emgirl+ERG slope see+PATH+LlG-CNT+npThe girl looked up on her journeyverse 6058malkeri thera larenha lernaalker thar=arl ar+enh+erl-an+emsky slope=REL see+PATH+UG-CNT+npRight up high (she) looked on her journeyverse 6059kakwerrim pela larelpa renhakwerrimp+el=arl ar+erlp-ar+enh+ekwoman+ERG=REL see+INCP-see+PATH+PSTThe ancestral woman glanced (up) on her journeyverse 7,6760kakurlpi thera lethara rrenhaakwerlp thar=arl thar-irr+enh+eksandhill slope=REL slope-INCH+PATH+PSTDescending the steep sandhill on (her) journeyverse 7,77,6861karlenga lintya lethara rrenhaarleng-arlenty=arl thar-irr+enh+eksandhill=REL slope-INCH+PATH+PSTDescending a long way on (her) journeyverse 6762kalera rrepvva ntyarenha lernaAlererrepwenty=arl ar+enh+erl-an+emplace.name=REL see+PATH+LIG-CNT+npPLACENAMEAlererrepwenty came into viewverse 5,54,7763karlperrpi yela lethara rrenhaarlperrpey+el=arl thar-irr+enh+eksandhill+LOC=REL slope-INCH+PATH+PSTDescending in the dust on (her) journeyverse 8,6864kayurrpi yurrpi lethara rrenhaaywerrp-aywerrp=arl thar-irr+enh+ekleaning=REL slope-INCH+PATH+PSTDescending the steep slope on (her) journeyverse 865karrkita puntya lelarna lhenhaArrkeyt-pwenty+el alern+elh+enh+ekyellow.ochre-place+LOC support.on+REF+PATH+PSTPLACENAMEAt Arrkeytepwenty they restedverse 566kanthan-e relhi ntyerenha lenaAntharr+ar+elh+enty ar+enh+erl-an+emnector+see+REF+NMZ see+PATH+LIG-CNT+npPLACENAMEAntharrarelhentye came into viewverse 5467yarlanga lintya lakerre nherlaarleng-arlenty=arl ak+err+enh+erl-an+eysandhill=REL call+PL+PATH+LIG-CNT+POT(We) named the far away placeverse 1568narlarlpa larlpa karreyarlwarlp-arlwarlp akarr+eypointv.rocks gather+POTPLACEN AME'Cluster of pointy rocks'verse 1569kakurrpa rerla lenawarr tyernaykwerrpar+el=arl naw-arrtyern+ekstick+ERG=REL RSP-shine+PSTWhere a beam of light was shiningverse 970kaharrki lema yalharnaaherrk+el=am=ay alhern+eksun+ERG=INT=EMPH shine+PSTWas it daylight shining?verse 971karnkilyarn kilyila lekwalpay kwetyayarnkely-arnkely+el=arl kw+elp-kw+ety+eksulky-RED+ERG=REL collect-lNCP-collect+PSTThe grumpy (man) ivas collectingverse 1072kantithal pethalpa lewiantethalpethalp=arl iw+ekeverywhere=REL throw+PSTThings scattered everywhereverse 1073matyuri tyeranhaatywerety ar+enh+embeantree see+PATH+npBean trees came into viewverse 1374mapwama larranhapwarn+el-irr+enh+emtight+LOC-INCH+PATH+npThe path is getting narrowverse 1375wilpaya lpayelayilpay-ilpay+elcreek-RED+LOCAt a small creekverse 4376mintyinyi ntyeranhantyeny+enty ar+enh+emred.mallee+RED(?) see+PATH+npRed mallees came into viewverse 4377karriki mimika lakarray pekerrayarrakimim (ak=arl) (ak+err+ep-akerr+ek) (?)plant.sp head=REL call+PL+CNT-RED+PST(?)verse 4578keniya rrerla literi terantiitneyarr+el=arl iter-iter-ant+ekgirl+ERC.=REL run.around-FRQ+PSTThe teenage girl went round and roundverse 39,4079kakwerri mpela literi terantikwerrimp+el=arl iter-iter-ant+ekwoman-ERG=REL PL-run.around+PSTThe ancestral woman went round and round7080ntyirrkuri rrkura lanyerniirrkwer-irrkwer=arl atnyern-entyd.s.emu.bush= REL hold-NMZThe double seeded-emu hush holderverse 3981kapengi nthera literi terantiapeng-inther+el iter-iter-ant+ekkurrajong-pulp+LOC PL-run.around+PSTRound and round the kurrajong root pulpverse 40,7082kakwerri mpela lamparna lanakwerrimp+el=arl ampern+erl-an+ekwoman-ERG=REL cook+LIG-CNT+PSTWhere the ancestral woman was cookingverse 2383kathamki tharnki thampama lanath+arnkerrth-amkerrth ampern+erl-an+ek+thorny.devil-RED cook+LIG-CNT+PSTCooking a thorny devilverse 2384kakurri mperla yangkenhi lanakwerrimp=arl=ay angk+enh+erl-an+ekwoman=REL=EMPH talk+LIG-PATH-CNT+PSTThe ancestral woman said on her journeyverse 5385keleka lema yarlkwailek+el=am=ay arlkw+ekwhat+ERG=INT=EMPH eat+PSTWhat got stuck into (you)?verse 5386kengkityi maya latwanha lanaingkety=am=ay=arl atw+enh+erl-an+ekfoot=INT=EMPH=REL hit+PATH+LIG-CNT+PSTWhat hit (your) foot on your journey?verse 3887kengkityi maya latayingkety=am=ay=arl atw+ekfoot=INT=EMPH=REL hit+PSTWhat hit your foot?verse 7988keranga lema yatwanha lanaareng+el=am=ay atw+enh+erl-an+ekeuro+ERG=INT=EMPH hit+PATH+LIG-CNT+PSTDid a euro attack you on your journey?verse 79, 1889keranga lema yatwaareng+el=am=ay atw+ekeuro+ERG=INT=EMPH hit+PSTDid a euro attack you?verse 38,7890kerrtyarta lanpera ngakenha lanairrtyart=arl anper=ang ak+enh+erl-an+ekspear=REL straight=lNT cut+PATH+LIG-CNT+PSTDid the spear snap in two?verse 18,7891mantyarta ntyarterla larrerna lanaantyart-antyart+el=arl arrern+erl-an+emhopping-ERG=REL put+LlG-CNT+npHopping ready to fightverse 52,5192marrtyalay yamila yarrerna lanaarrty+el=ay ameyler arrern+erl-an+emshake-LOC=REL shimmer put+LlG-CNT+npHopping ready to fightverse 5193wakurri mpenapi nyeranha lanemakwerrimp inapeny ar+enh+erl-an+ema.woman lap see+PATH+LIG-CNT+npLooking at the ancestral womans thighsverse 5294mayurrpa layurrpa rrenhaaywerrp-aywerrp-irr+enh+emleaning-INCH+PATH+npIt leant over on an angleverse 5895malkeri ngalarrayalker+eng (alarr+em)sky-ABL(?) hit(?)+np (?)Verse 5896kankarre renha perantya nenhaankarr (renh=ap ar+enly an+enh+ek)gully 3SG=EMPH see+DS sit+PATH+PST(?)verse 27,6997kakwilpi rena mpelartay lartirrayakwerlp (renh=ap) (mpe-)layt-layt-irr+eksandhill 3SG=CER RESP-light-FRQ+INCH+PSTAlight was shining (In the sandhill (?))verse 2798yankarra renha pekurtay pekurtayankarr (renh=ap) kwert-kwert itnt+eygully 3SG=CER smoke-RED rise-fPOTThe smoke was rising (from the gully (f))verse 6999kalaka laka lerlerrmarn temayalak-alak=arl rlwerrmantern+ek1 duSMOG-RED=REL ceremonial.meeting+PSTWe, aunties and nieces, met in ceremonyverse 30100kalaka laka layurrparn kernayalak-alak=arl aywerrpamkern+eklduSMOG-PL=REL ceremonial.meeting+PSTWe, aunties and nieces, closed the ceremonyverse 35,44101kanaka kerrenha layurrpa rnkernaanwekakerrenh=arl aywerrparnkern+eklpl.pos.smog=REL eeremonialmeeting+PSTOur (aunties and nieces) closed the ceremonyverse 35102kamiti rrerla yatyekatyeka tyewayamerterr=arl=ay atyekatyekaty iw+ekskirt=REL=EMPH sun throw+PSTThe skirt was put out to dryverse 57103kamiti rrerla yalarla lenhayamerterr=arl=ay (alarl) -el+enh+ekskirt =REL=EMPH (? )+REF+PATH+PSTThe skirt was (put in ({))verse 57104kamiti rrerla yarlerarlera lenhayamerterr=arl=ay arler-arler+el+enh+ekskirt =REL=EMPH smooth+VT+PATH+PSTThe skirt was smoothed outverse57105kanaka kerrenha larrkiti lenhaanwekakerrenh=arl arrkit-el+enh+ek1 pl.POS.SMOG=REL yellow.ochre-VT+PATH+PSTOurs were made yellowverse 65106kanaka kerrenha larlkanya malangka lelowa rrernaanwekakerrenh=arl arlkeny-malangk=arl lwewarrern+eklpl.POS.SMOG=REL design-lovely=REL show+PSTOur lovely designs were shownverse 73107kakwilpi kura lelartay lartirrayakvverlp (kwerrarl) layt-layt-irr+eksandhill (?) light-FRQ+INCH+PST

In the sandhill a light was shining

verse 63

Appendix 3: Morphological glossing conventionsIDU 1st person dualIPL 1st person plural3SG 3rd person singularABL ablativeCAUS causativeCER certainCNT continuous actionDS different subjectEMPH emphaticERG ergativeFRQ frequentativeHAB habitant ofHITH hitherINCH inchoativeINCP inceptiveINST instrumentalINT interrogative(...) postulated morpheme# word boundary= encl*tic boundary- polysyllabic suffix boundary (independent prosodic word)+ monosyllabic suffix boundary (part of preceding prosodic word). historical morpheme boundaryLIG ligativeLOC locativeNMZ nominaliser/same subjectnp non-pastPATH do action while on a path of motionPL pluralPOS possessivePOT potential markerPST pastRED reduplicationREF reflexiveREL relativiserRSP respect registerSMOG same patrimoiety, opposite generationVT verbaliser, transitive

NOTES

(1.) See Moyle (1966) for a discussion of the characteristics ofthe Central Australian musical region, which covers the southern half ofthe Northern Territory, northern South Australia and much of inlandWestern Australia.

(2.) Alyawarr has a section system with four sociocentriccategories (Green 1992), whereas other Arandic groups have a subsectionsystem with eight socio-centric categories.

(3.) See Appendix 1 for the total 78 verses and 107 Antarrengenyawely lines.

(4.) In field recording w_arnka07404_11, time code 1032-1065. Alist of the field recordings on which this study is based and thearchives in which they are held can be found in Turpin and Ross (2013:100-01).

(5.) In addition, the author recorded numerous sessions between2007 and 2013 in which the meanings of the verses are discussed.

(6.) Turpin and Ross (2013) identify 57 main verses with numerousvariants.

(7.) One of these narratives is given in Turpin and Ross (2013).

(8.) L77, L95, L97, L98 and L107.

(9.) L77, L95, L96. A partial translation can be made for L23, L50,L56, L97, L98 and L103.

(10.) Linguistic glossing abbreviations are given in Appendix 3.

(11.) The five one-line verses are Verse 1 [LI], 45[L77], 50[L43],63[L107] and 73[L106],

(12.) This is what Barwick (1989:17) calls a 'beatingcell'.

(13.) The exact length of these two long notes varies acrossperformances from .

(14.) Verse 1, Line 1. This is song 1 in Turpin and Ross (2013).

(15.) This placename is itself multi-morphemic as pwenty is aplacename suffix meaning 'range, hills' and lerrere is anideophone meaning 'swish' or 'whoosh'.

(16.) Ilewerr also means 'salt crust', such as that foundon a claypan.

(17.) It is also possible that this reflects the pragmaticallyunmarked sentence structure.

(18.) This includes lines that consist of a nominal + inchoative,adverb + verb and nominalised verb + verb (e.g. Lines 78, 99, 95, 96,26).

(19.) In three lines the second nominal is used predicativelywhereas Line 77 is a reduplication.

(20.) In both lines NN have different grammatical roles (i.e.object and agent).

(21.) The line may also be a metaphor for their deserted homelands,which is what they discover on return after their journey.

(22.) The ending =arl is discussed in Section 7.

(23.) Five of the 77 verses consist of only one line and so are notsubject to verse level processes.

REFERENCES

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Myfany Turpin

University of Sydney

Dr Myfany Turpin is a linguist and ethnomusicologist at theUniversity of Sydney. She has published extensively on Aboriginalsong-poetry including a number of multi-media publications. She hasconducted research on Kaytetye, a language spoken in Central Australia,and written an encyclopedic dictionary of Kaytetye and a Learner'sGuide to the language, as well as a number of scholarly articles in theareas of lexical semantics and ethnobiology. She currently holds an ARCFuture Fellowship to investigate the ways words are put to music inAboriginal song-poetry.

[emailprotected]

Table 1: Recordings of Antarrengeny awely on which the analysis isbased No. No. No. of song small Antarr.Date performed items songs verses Recorded by31-03-2011 106 22 9 M Turpin, J Green and30-03-2011 (a) 94 44 26 M Carew30-03-2011 (b) 70 30 3004-04-2007 99 48 43 M Turpin and J Green11-09-2004 44 24 2225-09-2000 35 10 9 Other01-11-1995 21 5 4 J Green03-08-1994 30 10 631-09-1993 35 21 2003-11-1977 36 18 18 R and L Moyle27-11-1977 60 23 2120-12-1977 83 25 2521-12-1977 56 10 1018-01-1978 52 19 19P-02-1978 31 5 41979 (a) 101 41 271979 (b) 49 16 11Total song items 1002Table 2: Lines that occur in more than one verseLines in only one verse 78 73%Lines in more than one verse 29 27%Total lines 107Table 3: Number of lines with opaque texts in theAntarrengeny corpusUnconfirmed Number of lines--segments of text 5 (4%) (8)--meaning (gloss) 8 (7%)--free translation 9 (8%) (9)Table 4: Verse structure in Antarrengeny awelyAABB 72 94%A 5 6%Total verses 77Table 5: Rhythmic lines in the Antarrengeny awely corpus Notes per No. ofLine length Cells/dipods line lines hemistich division4 dipods 3232 10 51 [32][32]0.73 3332 11 12 [33][32] 3233 11 9 [32][33] 3252 12 4 [32][52] 3333 12 2 [33][33]3 dipods 322 7 6 13% 332 8 5 323 8 32 dipods 8% 33 6 95 dipods 33232 13 1 [332][32] 2% 33322 13 1 [333][22]6 dipods 333332 17 1 [33][33][32] 3% 333232 16 2 [33][32][32]8 dipods 1% 33233232 21 1 [332][332][32]Total 14 107Table 6: Five broad semantic themes of the 107 lines1. women's ceremony2. ancestors3. topography, sky4. hunting5. anxiety, sadness, angerTable 7: Distribution of the 103 stems(nominals and verbs) acrossthe 107 linesNumber of different stemsin one line 66in more than one line 37Total stems 103Table 8: Distribution of the 103 stems (nominais and verbs) acrossthe 107 linesAlyawarr phrase glossalamperrk-elhel- 'cause (it) to glisten'alhern- 'shine'alimarrank- 'glisten'ilewerr-irr-Hn- 'shimmer in the distance' (lit. mirage-INCH/CAUS) (16)irrtyern- 'shine'layt-layt-irr- 'shine' (from English)nawarrtyern- 'shine' (older form)arrkaylp 'white feather headdress'iylerlkarr 'white headband'karlayntenb 'headband'alpeyt 'bilby tail tip'ngwenty-ngwenty 'white ochre'aherrk 'sun'anter, rtway 'oil, fat' (for rubbing on bodies)Table 9: Distribution of the 103 stems across the 107 linesWord order No. of linesNV18 94N(N)19 5NNV20 2(unclear) 6Total no. lines 107Table 10: Distribution of grammatical roles across the lines thathave a verbWord order No. of linesAV 34SV 20ov 39Other/unclear 3Total no. lines 96