Translating oral literature: Aboriginal song texts

Donaldson, Tamsin

doi:10.22459/ah.03.2011.04

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Even the more private and esoteric performance traditions associated with managing local ecosystems and maintaining Noongar cosmologies were practised and sustained in the face of colonial presence. As has been the case across Aboriginal Australia (Donaldson 1979), Noongar in the southwest of Western Australia continued to perform and create songs during periods in which traditional culture was under extreme stress-that is, from the early era of British colonization beginning in the mid-nineteenth century through to more recent times (Brackne1l2016). Descriptions of Noongar songs and performance in historical and archival records serve as examples ofa Noongar musical tradition in which singers communicate and memorialize their experiences in song while maintaining relationships with kin and Country.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualizing Noongar Song

Bracknell¹

2017

yearb. tradit. music

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As of 2011, an estimated 669,900 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people accounted for 3 per cent of Australia's total population (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015). Of that population, over 30,000 people from a uniquely large urban/rural area in the southwest of Western Australia—including the author of this article—identify as Noongar (also spelled Nyungar). This makes Noongar one of the largest Aboriginal cultural groups in Australia (SWALSC 2009; see figure 1); and yet, the Noongar language is critically endangered, with just 369 speakers acknowledged in the 2011 Australian census (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2015). Noongar language is not unique in this regard; the most recent National Indigenous Languages Survey indicates that only “around 120” of more than two hundred Aboriginal languages are still spoken and that “about 13 can be considered strong” (Marmion, Obata, and Troy 2014:xii). Music traditions, often strongly tied to language, are disappearing too: approximately 98 per cent of Aboriginal musical traditions have been lost since colonization (Corn 2012:240). As is the case with most of Aboriginal Australia, traditional Noongar music is primarily vocal, featuring lyrics in the Noongar language. This implies an inextricable link between Noongar language and Noongar song traditions, a co-dependency that is critical for the vitality of both.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conceptualizing Noongar Song

Bracknell¹

2017

yearb. tradit. music

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“…The feelings, opinions and literacy of English speakers in Australia have traditionally had significant influence on the "quantity and quality" of most written interpretations of Aboriginal speech and song. 63 The written versions and translations of the archival songs we produced in the workshops reflect our own diverse feelings, opinions and approaches to literacy as Noongar. I distributed typed lyric sheets for each song with detailed linguistic glossing in the earliest workshops, but the group quickly advised me to simplify future resources to the bare essentials, including just the Noongar lyrics and a glossary of possibly relevant key words.…”

Section: Words and Meaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rebuilding as Research: Noongar Song, Language and Ways of Knowing

Bracknell

2020

Journal of Australian Studies

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In Australia, language and song are integral to maintaining Aboriginal knowledge systems. British colonisation and ensuing Australian government policies of assimilation have adversely impacted these knowledge systems, at least partially by functioning to dramatically diminish the vitality of many Aboriginal languages and song traditions. As a Noongar researcher motivated by community-oriented goals, I employ a multidisciplinary approach to enhance the revitalisation of the endangered Noongar language and its song traditions in the south coast region of Western Australia. This work draws on established methods from ethnomusicology and linguistics, engaging with community knowledge-holders and archival records to rebuild repertoire while increasing opportunities to gather together, sing and speak. While the processes developed to aid this endeavour may function as useful models for others involved in similar projects across the world, its aims are primarily oriented towards empowering the local community. Given the continued development of approaches to Indigenous research, this article will discuss the potential for language revitalisation, song and performance to expand available ways of knowing.

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“…This was mainly in Diyari. Peter Austin (1978) has recorded and analysed a num ber of the Diyari verses, there are some comments from Tamsin Donaldson (1979) and there is a study of just one verse (Hercus and Koch 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%