Marri Ngarr Lirrga Songs: A Linguistic Analysis

Abstract

This essay, a companion to Linda Barwick's article in this volume, provides evidence to show that the Marri Ngarr song register differs from the mundane register in several important respects and, in doing so, challenges accepted generalizations about these differences in Australian languages. Fluent speakers of Marri Ngarr number fewer than ten; all are old and ill and the language itself is expected to cease being spoken within the next few decades. The evidence comes from analysis of the linguistic structure of a representative sample of Marri Ngarr lirrga song-texts recorded in 1998, compared with a narrative text recorded in the year 2000. Analysis shows that the complexity of the lirrga song register is not mirrored in the current mundane register and probably reflects a period when the language was used more widely. The analysis of Marri Ngarr song-texts can therefore give us important clues as to what the language may have been like in its heyday.