Post by Deleted on May 3, 2017 7:11:37 GMT -5
Excerpt from "George Sword's Warrior Narratives: A Study in the Processes of Composition of Lakota Oral Narrative" by Delphine R. Shaw, "The aim in Ethnopoetics is to read a poem or narrative like George Sword’s on its own terms; [...] in essence, to strive to put the voice back into the narratives which is beyond the scope of this dissertation. [...] Nonetheless, in working with texts like George Sword’s, scholars including Hymes, developed methods focusing on structure and organization of the oral narrative that are useful for this study since these approaches use the poem’s own Indigenous cultural matrix as the basis for analysis. Structurally, George Sword’s narratives are organized in lines in stanzas where for every word, every syllable carries meaning. Lines of songs utilize rhyme, simile and metaphor; songs that represent Lakota poetry, syllable by syllable and line by line and verse by verse that can further be categorized into warrior poetry and women’s poetry; that are men’s songs and women’s songs. George Sword’s narratives, as translated in the early part of the twentieth century, were taken as anthropological lists of cultural items to be catalogued, ceremonies and beliefs to be recorded; its literary value largely ignored. When heeded, Hyme’s urging, using Ethnopoetic methods allows scholars to see the true texture of George Sword’s work. For text like his, where the performative aspect as championed by Ethnopoetics is missing, it is important to work with the text in the target language (Foley, How to Read 103). This kind of textual representation allows the text to be viewed on its own terms: an example follows from the third narrative, stanza 6 in George Sword’s text:
Original Lakota Text:
Maka he amaniya zuya aye kta ehatanhans ohanhepi wan el oyasin wityapi tipi wanji el ogna na tokel igluza omanipi kte ca on iyecehce igluzapi witayapi na oiyokipiya woiyuskin ou woglag yankapi tehan sni hehanl inapapi na hocokatanyan.
Word-for-word Translation:
Earth, that, upon, war party, go along, shall, from, on a certain night, a, in, all, gather, dwelling (376), one, in, in, and how, to hold one’s self up, travel, shall, when, just like, hold one’s self up, together, and, pleasant, gladness, talk, sit, long in time, not, every now and then, to come out, and, in a circle.
Ethnopoetic Word-for-word Translation (377):
In their journey upon the earth, to war against the enemy, on a certain night, all the warriors gather in one place. (378) There, in whatever way they are to dress for war, they dress accordingly, as they assemble. In camaraderie they sit and converse in good cheer, shortly they emerge and gather in the center.
(376) Witayapi tipi is a concept of a gathering place.
(377) The ethnopoetic word for word translation required fluency in the language and a growing trust in the natural structures of the language itself.
(378) Witaya meaning “together, in company”.
The goal is to transfer as many of the oral poetic features of Lakota narrative tradition as possible (Foley, How to Read 105)."
George Sword's Warrior Narratives: A Study in the Processes of Composition of Lakota Oral Narrative by Delphine R. Shaw
arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/bitstream/10150/311217/1/azu_etd_13116_sip1_m.pdf
Original Lakota Text:
Maka he amaniya zuya aye kta ehatanhans ohanhepi wan el oyasin wityapi tipi wanji el ogna na tokel igluza omanipi kte ca on iyecehce igluzapi witayapi na oiyokipiya woiyuskin ou woglag yankapi tehan sni hehanl inapapi na hocokatanyan.
Word-for-word Translation:
Earth, that, upon, war party, go along, shall, from, on a certain night, a, in, all, gather, dwelling (376), one, in, in, and how, to hold one’s self up, travel, shall, when, just like, hold one’s self up, together, and, pleasant, gladness, talk, sit, long in time, not, every now and then, to come out, and, in a circle.
Ethnopoetic Word-for-word Translation (377):
In their journey upon the earth, to war against the enemy, on a certain night, all the warriors gather in one place. (378) There, in whatever way they are to dress for war, they dress accordingly, as they assemble. In camaraderie they sit and converse in good cheer, shortly they emerge and gather in the center.
(376) Witayapi tipi is a concept of a gathering place.
(377) The ethnopoetic word for word translation required fluency in the language and a growing trust in the natural structures of the language itself.
(378) Witaya meaning “together, in company”.
The goal is to transfer as many of the oral poetic features of Lakota narrative tradition as possible (Foley, How to Read 105)."
George Sword's Warrior Narratives: A Study in the Processes of Composition of Lakota Oral Narrative by Delphine R. Shaw
arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/bitstream/10150/311217/1/azu_etd_13116_sip1_m.pdf