Documentation of traditional songs and ritual texts: issues for archiving

Abstract

It is well established that the archiving of materials from endangered languages needs to be not just the archiving of recordings, but also a rich metadata, including, wherever possible, transcriptions, translations, and glossing of the meaningful elements in the languages which would otherwise be lost. All linguistic transcriptions and analysis face complex issues of transcription; there are always alternate ways to represent language transcriptions, such as whether certain grammatical elements should be treated as separate phonological elements, words or particles, or treated as affixes or clitics. In many cases these alternate analyses are in the purview of the linguist; with speakers of the language more or less agreeing on what the form is. With traditional songs and ritual texts, whether in oral or written form, there can be alternate analyses depending on the consultants that the linguist is working with, and these analyses can change over time. For example, when listening back to recordings of traditional ritual / sung texts, consultants sometimes interpret something different on the recording from that which is clearly audible. Which version should be transcribed? Which version is correct? The issue becomes much more complicated when the interpretation of the meaning of such texts is undertaken. And in traditional societies, the interpretations of these materials may have, and did, change over time. So how is this going to be dealt and fit in with the archivist's intention to make 'permanent' records, records that don't change over time? The idea of a 'permanent' record wouldn't have been possible in traditional societies where reanalysis and meaning changing was ongoing. Using examples from Singpho sagas (Hka yawng ningkin, the 'water flowing song), the Tangsa ritual songs (Wihu Qhyoe, the song for the earth mother) and Ahom ritual manuscripts (Ming Mvng Lung Phai, the text for calling back the tutelary spirit of the country), we will demonstrate and discuss these issues.