Composing Lines, Performing Acts:

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the discursive strategies employed by a Bosniac singer named Alija Fjuljanin, whose epic song tHalil Hrnjicic and Milos the Highwaymant was recorded by Milman Parry in 1934. By examining the techniques by which Fjuljanin segments his discourse and establishes the organizational contours of his song, the chapter gains insights that will be applicable to a variety of oral narrative traditions, including the tradition of Homeric poetry, which Parry famously brought into comparison with South Slavic epic. The chapter is divided into five sections: first, some general remarks about the theory underlying the ideas presented here; second, a few notes on methodology; third, the application of theory and methodology to a few examples; fourth, discussion of some possible implications of such an approach for Homeric discourse; fifth, some conclusions. Keywords:Alija Fjuljanin; Halil Hrnjicic and Milos the Highwayman; Homeric poems; south slavic epic song