Verbal art
The study of Native American verbal art is imperative because it provides all the reliable information about the nature of the Native Americans Indian oral expressions. People can also observe the aesthetic qualities of the verbal expressions. It is stated that through the art it represents the heritage of the verbal art. Many modern students do not agree with this facts because they believe that Native American verbal art to be utterly worthless. This is usually based on the modern verbal art, which is different from that of the Native Americans (Zolbrod).
There are many challenges for those who have not grown up with these oral traditions to understand, interpret and translate these cultural forms. In the modern societies, people have begun using the written method of documentation. The written method can be easily translated, understood and interpret. Oral traditions are important for people to be able to maintain their culture and traditions from one generation to the next (Graham). However, in the modern society, this kind of documentation is considered to be old fashion. Many have adopted other ways of literature that seem to be working. Another challenge is that some of the stories told by people seem to be fictional, and thus, many consider them to be untrue (Hulan and Renate). The difference in the context and language used makes it hard for people to interpret or understand what is being said. People's changing times and mixture with other cultures has changed how the Native American talk and interpret some of the oral languages.
Contributions to verbal art
One of the contributions of the Native American verbal art is the Narrative Poetry of the Zuni Indians. Dennis Tedlock translated this poetry. Tedlock states that the songs beat follows the pauses and the stresses that are in the words. He also states that the contour of the melody in Zuni’s songs is indicated by the ups and the downs of the song line. In the songs, there is a pause, at least, half a second before any new line begins at the left margin and another pause occurs after a dot which takes about two seconds break (Tedlock). The capital letter words one is required to use loud voice while the small letters one is supposed to use a soft voice. The vowels that are followed by a dash they should be held for a period of two seconds. The repeated consonants should be held for two seconds. A crescendo should be produced when there is a repeated vowel that keeps changing from the capitals to lower cases. The double vowels in the songs are supposed to be held a bit longer than the single vowels. It can also be observed that the double consonants are being held longer than the single ones. These facts about how the songs is produced can indicate the culture of a person. An example of the song is the Shumeekuli.
The songs contain all the facts mentioned and thus makes a person be able to interpret the song and understand how the Zuni pronounce their words and language. The song can be observed to be about the villagers of Hawikku, Wind place, and Gypsum place. According to the song, there was an existence of the Yaaya dance practiced by these villages (Tedlock). The priest who lived in the Gypsum place told people from his village about the dance. These words spread to other villages thus prompted them to start gathering. The date for the occasion had been set, and people prepared themselves and practiced. The practicing took place for four days. A day before the Yaaya dance the Shumeekuli dancers came together. It can be observed that the song details about the process of what happened on the day for the Yaaya dance. It is stated that the dancers danced the whole day but took rest at noon to eat. The dancing continues as a person dressed as the white Shumeekuli arrives. The Shumeekuli will dance around a tree until he goes crazy. It is stated that even with a big crowd surrounding him he is able to run away. The people run after him but are unable to capture him. He was caught by a herder. The people unmask the shumeekuli with great difficulty (Tedlock). However, when they finally expose him some of his flesh peel off. It is stated that the white Shumeekuli lived for four days before dying. The celebrations repeat itself when the middle place has become known. This song shows the type of holidays and customs that take place in certain villages of the Native American society.
Another contributor could be the one that is translated by Andrew Wiget about the Hopi Coyote story. The narrative of the story is considered to be a folklore (Wiget). This means that it could signify that the story is a make belief or fictional because it contains non-human objects. Folklore stories per the Hopi traditions have had many restrictions in that the story could be told during the season of frost. Through the limitations, it has enabled the Hopi people to have their own distinct connections with the stories. They connect and relate to the stories even though they might be false. While narrating the story, there is always a recurring song that is accompanied by the story. Therefore, this kind of story is referred to as the cante fable (Wiget). These types of fables contain a recurring song in the tale. This means that the relationship between the performance and the plot of the story is very crucial. The song is stated not to contribute much to the storyline, and that is why it is free to vary without changing the plot of the story. The aesthetic value of the song is to get the interest of the audience. The Indian oral literature about the folklore or myths is stated not to be structurally distinct genres. Therefore, the distinction is solely dependent on the beliefs of the people. In looking at all these facts, one can be able to understand that the folklore stories told by the Native Americans have their own significance to their beliefs and customs. The stories have their set of restrictions that make it possible to distinguish from one community to another among the Native Americans.
The Native American verbal art has contributed the understanding of the exploration of the central metaphor that exists in their oral literature. This fact can be observed from the works of Garry Gossen who explored the Chamulas community (Gossen). The metaphor is stated to have been used as a criticism of all their performances. The people of Chamulas can be able to recognize this fact from any ordinary language to their formal ritual songs and speeches. There is a great religious significance that the heat possess. The reason for this fact is because it is usually referred to as the sun deity. When it comes to the topic of heat metaphors, the language is one of the domains that the Chamulas look at during performances. The verbal behaviors during the story telling among the Chamulas can be observed since they express moral values of the society. It is claimed that the same cycle of the metaphoric heat provides the criteria of about the desirable social relations and life cycle. The ordinary languages have restrictions based on the dictates of the social situations.
The words of the people who are heated their verbal behavior are stated to be neither pure language nor ordinary. They have restrictions when it comes to their form, but the content can be unpredictable to the people. For this, the Chamulas would explain that the performance of this kind of a person should come from the heart. The children in the community are taught about this transition from words at a young age. The reason for stating this fact is because according to the Chamulas they believe that it is vital for the children to learn about the verbal behaviors of all the stories. This is because the pure words are claimed to have the genuine genres of oral traditions (Gossen). These facts enable a person to learn about the verbal behaviors of the Chamula’s people when telling a story.
Uses of the Native Americans verbal art
There are many uses of the Native American art that can be observed from the various researches that have been conducted. The language is used to preserve the traditions and customs of the Indians. It is a well-known fact that the Native Indians take their traditions very seriously. These are the main reasons why they always maintain their oral literature so as to educate their children about their customs and traditions. An example of this case can be observed from the Tedlock translation where the Zuni Indians continue to perform their ceremonies (Tedlock). In this case, the Yaaya dance, which is crucial to their traditions. It can be observed that Yaaya dance is performed for four days. The people take the occasion seriously in that they practice a lot while doing their day to normal day activities. This fact shows the great importance of the dance to the community.
The oral literature brings about a sense of identity of one’s culture and traditions. Therefore, the stories about a certain community are usually told to people from their childhood. They grow up knowing about their traditional cultural practices and beliefs. This is the reason that whenever they are asked about their identity they will not fluster but clarify to people who they are and where they belong. The stories told in the Native American culture can also distinguish what clan one belongs to in the society. An example can be the story told by the Laguna Pueblo people about the creation story. According to the story, the Antelope claims that he can help to put a hole on earth for people to be able to come out. He uses his hooves to make this happen severally but is unable to do so (SILKO). This causes the badger to step in and use his claws to dig a hole in the ground that causes people to come out in the new world. These people consider themselves to be the badger people. These give them a sense of belonging to one clan.
Language endangerment and revitalization
Steps were taken by Native American communities to preserve and revitalize their languages
One of the ways that the people have tried to preserve their culture is by having distinctive names. These names sometimes do not coincide with what is written as their national names. Only people in the community are the ones who can know these names. There are many Native Americans who have used this type of strategy to maintain their culture. There are some names that were initially referred to a particular village that got extended to a large group. An example is the grouping name of Achumawi that was referred to as the river people (Leanne and Kenneth). This name was formerly used by the people who were living on the Fall River. It is claimed that later the name was extended to other groups that spoke similar dialects of the language. This similar dialect causes them to have a sense of belonging to one clan. This makes it possible for the names to be extended from one clan to another.
An example is that of the Pit River area where bands of people who are living together. This is a place where the river flows westward from the northeastern corner of Modoc County and continues down to the Lassen County. Eleven of the band of people in this area goes by the name of Atsugewi (Hinton). This name is based on the language name of the area that the people are stated to be living. They are also referred to as the Hat Creek, which is an English name. The other bands of people are called the Dixie Valley people. All these nine bands combined are grouped under the name of Achumawi. These two groups main difference is the physical environment and traditional cultural orientation.
The Native Americans used stories to talk about their ancestry, history and culture. The stories helped to educate people on the problems that the Indians had to go through. These facts can be observed from the story by Linda Yamane whose ancestry is from the Rumsien Ohlone (Hinton). These stories were vital especially after the arrival of the Spanish missionaries. When the missionaries arrived, they forced the people to speak their language and change their traditional way of life. The stories also communicate about the struggles that the Indians had to go through due to the arrival of the Spanish people. As more people began to enter California, the Indians way of life changed. Many intermarried with other people while others were turned into slaves who worked for the Spanish missionaries. People turned to alcohol because of the increasing numbers of poverty. Therefore, the stories talk about how people began to forget about their traditions. People learned how to blend in with the other cultures and thus forgot about their culture. These caused the oral traditions to change, and many focused on the struggles that the Indians endured. Hence, people who wanted to learn more about their language and culture had to ask their grandparents about any history of their culture.
The history of the name of an area enabled the people to preserve and revitalize their culture and traditions. It is stated that the Wiyot were divided into three groups which are the Wiki, Wiyat, and Patewat (Hinton). These groups named themselves as the Chumash. The Chumash was the name for the inhabitants that lived in Santa Cruz.
It is claimed that some of the names were given by the Spanish people such as the Costanoan. This name was applied to the Ohlone languages, which meant the coast people. These names were included in their culture and traditions. By adding this names, it helped them to learn more about their environment and history (Leanne and Kenneth).
Problems faced with revitalization effort
Some of the problems faced by the revitalization effort were brought on by the rules set by the Spanish missionaries and European colonies. The rules ensured that the people did not speak their languages in schools or the school compounds. This fact caused the children to begin slowly to forget their languages because they had to adapt to speaking English or Spanish. For the children who spoke the language, there was a room that was set aside to punish the children who disobeyed the rule of not speaking the native language. Some spies were stated to be hanging around the Native Indians children in order to report them if they spoke their native language. However, the children continued to speak their language in secret (Hinton).
Religious studies created a lot of problems for the native Indians to continue preserving their culture. The Spanish missionaries that had come to America built Catholic schools in order to educate the Indians about Catholicism and religion (Hinton). This studies taught the children about the importance of worshipping God. It also changed people’s ideology about their cultural practices that were considered to be a sin. This education caused the children to change their way thinking about their culture, and thus, many started changing their habits. This was the beginning of the changes that would occur to the Native Americans.
In conclusion, the Native Americans verbal art is vital because it helps to preserve the Indian culture and traditions. Each community has their own set of dialect and language that has been preserved through the means of songs, stories, and folk tells. The oral literature needs performances in forms of songs and stories in the plot. This brings about interest for the people. Thereby, creating an understanding of what is happening.
Work cited
Gossen, Gary H. To Speak with a Heated Heart: Chamula Canons of Style and Good Performance . Cambridge University Press, 1989. Press
Graham, Laura. A Public Sphere in Amazonia? The Depersonalized Collaborative Construction of Discourse in Xavante. American Anthropological Association, 1993. Press
Hinton, Leanne. How to Keep Your Language Alive: A Commonsense Approach to One-On-One Language Learning. Heyday Books, 2002. Press
Hulan, Renée, and Renate Eigenbrod. Aboriginal Oral Traditions: Theory, Practice, Ethics. Fernwood Publishing, 2008. Press
Leanne Hinton, Kenneth Hale. The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice. Brill, 2001. Press
Sherzer, Joel. Verbal Art in San Blas: Kuna Culture Through Its Discourse. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Press
SILKO, LESLIE MARMON. Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective . Laguna Pueblo Reservation , 1981. Press
Tedlock, Dennis. Finding the Center: Narrative Poetry of the Zuni Indians. University of Nebraska Press, 1978. Press
Wiget, Andrew. Handbook of Native American Literature. New York: Garland Publishing Inc., 1996. Press
Zolbrod, Paul G. "Review ofNative American Verbal Art: Texts and Contexts by William M. Clements." A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (1998): 201-203. Press
