PACIFIC LINGUISTICS Sen�e� V - No. ZZ CUSTOMS OF AMBRYM (TEXTSJ SONGSJ GAMES AND DRAWINGS) by W.F. Paton Department of Linguistics Research School of Pacific Studies THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY Paton, W.F. Customs of Ambrym (texts, songs, games and drawings). D-22, xvi + 113 pages. Pacific Linguistics, The Australian National University, 1979. DOI:10.15144/PL-D22.cover ©1979 Pacific Linguistics and/or the author(s). Online edition licensed 2015 CC BY-SA 4.0, with permission of PL. A sealang.net/CRCL initiative. PACIFIC LINGUISTICS is issued through the L�ngu�ht�c C��cl� 06 Canbe��a and consists of four series: SERIES A - OCCAS IONAL PAPERS SERIES B - MONOGRAPHS SERIES C - BOOKS SERIES V - SPECIAL PUBLICATIONS EDITOR: S.A. Wurm. ASSOCIATE EDITORS: D.C. Laycock, C.L. voorhoeve, D.T. Tryon, T.E. Dutton. EDITORIAL ADVISERS: B. Bender, University of Hawaii J. Lynch, University of Papua D. Bradley, Australian National New Guinea University K.A. McElhanon, University of A. Capell, university of Sydney Texas S. Elbert, University of Hawaii H. McKaughan, university of Hawaii K. Franklin, Summer Institute of P. Mlihlh�usler, Technische Linguistics Universit�t Berlin W.W. Glover, Summer Institute of G.N. O'Grady, University of Linguistics Victoria, B.C. G. Grace, University of Hawaii A.K. Pawley, University of Hawaii M.A.K. Halliday, University of K. pike, University of Michigan; Sydney Summer Institute of Linguistics A. Healey, Summer Institute of E.C. Polorne, University of Texas Linguistics G. Sankoff, universite de Montreal L. Hercus, Australian National E. Uhlenbeck, University of Leiden University J.W.M. Verhaar, University of N.D. Liem, University of Hawaii Indonesia, Jakarta ALL CORRESPONDENCE concerning PACI FIC LINGUISTICS, including orders and subscriptions, should be addressed to: The Secretary, PACI FIC LINGUISTICS, Department of Linguistics, School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T. 2600. Australia. Copyright (§) W.F. Paton. First published 1979. The editors are indebted to the Australian National University for help in the production of this series. This publication was made possible by an initial grant from the Hunter Douglas Fund. National Library of Australia Card Number and ISBN 0 85883 189 9 Frontispiece: The Drum at Fanu (between NebUl and Magam), North Ambrym . Painted by Brett Hilder, 11.6.48. TAB LE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION vii Acknowledgements x Author's Note xi Key to Phonetic Symbols xii Language/Dialect Names xiv Map xv CUSTOMS OF AMSRYM: AA - Birth Ceremonies 1 SS - Circumcis ion 4 CC - Marriage 8 DD - Death 11 EE - Tribal Spirits 18 FF - Images 20 GG - Sacred Fires 21 HH - Ceremonial Throwing 26 II - bato 28 JJ - Hiding, Secrecy 37 KK - rom (NA: ole) 38 LL - The New Yam Ritual 40 MM - Dances 43 NN - Games 43 00 - Witchcraft ('Poison' ) 45 PP - Medic ine Magic 56 QQ - Some Tabus, Oaths, etc . 57 RR - Prayer 59 SS - Ambrym Drum(s) 60 TT - Some Instruments of Music and Sound 60 UU - Songs 62 v vi Page vv - Power 66 WW - Kinship Terms and Conventions 70 XX - Marriage 'Lines ' 80 yy - Drawings 84 ZZ - Various Notes 97 Bibliography 98 INTRODUCTION It seems ab undant ly worthwhile to record the language and life of even one remote is land of the New Hebrides Group , for while Ambrym is , in one sense, an unimportant dot on the map of the Pacific , and it s people a handful of only about four thousand souls , yet in it s many villages is still reflected a good deal of primit ive, or at any rate old, culture. In some is lands of the Group the in fluences of American occupation , inevitab le and fundamentally beneficial in the perspective of the War (1939-1945 ), may have made such indeliab le imprints on tribal outlooks that life for the people will never be quite the same again . Ambrym, however , being off the beaten track , and by it s geographical and geological peculiarities disqualified for use as any kind of military base, remained comparatively unaffected by this recent wave of influence, though many Ambrym men worked on other is lands , especially on Santo and Efate, for the American forces . Yet much had already operated during the last century , or even half century , towards the disappearance of things that were old . Ambrym was known as a happy hunting ground for the recruiters for the Queensland plantations in the days of the kanaka labour system, a period and experience to which some old Ambrym men looked back with wistful regret , others perhaps with less happy memories. The coming of trade, missions , 'government '; the people' s own imit ation of new fashions , methods and instruments, most of them clearly more effective than their own cruder ways ; all these things have greatly altered Amb rym life . Nevertheless a deep force of virile native life moves along still, and can be felt , even seen , and at any rate partly understood . One always rememb ers the elusive nature of so much of it , and the further one advances in its knowledge, the less certain one bec omes of some of it s ramifications . The is land is interesting in itself. If it s seventy miles of almost shelterles s and inh ospitab le coasts have kept it comparatively vii viii remote from out side influences , its own active volcano from within has exercised a disturb ing effect , and is a phenomenon by no means unre lated to the history of the spoken and written language . Amb rym as a whole island exhibits two distinct languages. Ambrymese proper , of which Lonwolwol is a dialec�, is spoken by about three quarters of the population , that is , by almost all except the eleven hundred (or so) people of the south-eastern corner of the island opposite Paama (an island only five mi les distant from that corner of Ambrym). The speech of this south-eastern district is only dialectally different from Paamese . Culture differences follow this main grouping of languages . Fanbang (FanbaQ) village , of ab out forty people , isolated in the hills overlooking the east coast between Fonwor and the distant wel l-defined south-eastern district , speaks a composite dialect which probab ly includes much of both languages. The map will help to show the position more clearly . Within the main language of Ambrym, the gradations of dialect are extraordinary and almost baffling . Ray's remark that 'it is difficult to ascertain whether there is much difference of dialect in Ambrym ...' becomes sadly and quickly disproved by a practical worker and learner in the field. It is not sure that the diale cts as now spoken are quite pure and distinct , and there is probab ly some mixing and overlapping; but , on the other hand , there is much to suggest that the dialects are fundamentally distinguished by their speakers and hearers . Within the main Amb rym language , it has been in the dialect of the old Lonwolwol tribe that I have chiefly worked, for reasons which appeared to me to be adequate , although our Mission Station was situated on the very northern point of Ambrym. Throughout this work the main comparison is between Lonwolwol and the northern speech . For most of Ambrym, the Lonwolwol dialect had , by various historical circumstances, come to be a kind of lingua franca . The two chief forces responsible were missionary work , and volcanic destruction . Mission work began on Ambrym in 1883, when Reverend W.B. Murray and his wife settled near Stony Point , quite close to Ranon ; the ruins of the foundations of the early mission house may still be seen . 111- health soon drove him away , but he was succeeded in 1885 by his brother Char les , whose wife , however, died in 1886 ; and by 1887 ill­ health forced him also to retire . But from Dr Lamb 's appointment in 1892 until the disastrous volcanic eruption of December 7, 1913, Presbyterian mi ssion work on Ambrym was centred in the Dip Point area, and a medical hospital, opened in 1896, became the base . ix This comparatively long period of settled influence , during which the native language was more and more studied and used , while at the same time the work itself spread wide ly to other districts, estab lished. Lonwolwol as a kind of common dialect , or at least a leading one . It was from Dr Lamb 's notes that S.H. Ray's survey of the Ambrym language was nearly all compiled. In 1899 Dr John T. Bowie succeeded Dr Lamb , who had been forced to retire from Amb rym in 1897 through ill health . The violent vo lcanic eruption of December 7, 1913, brought the work to a sudden, though not final end . It destroyed and engulfed the entire Mission Station , including any stocks of printed books , and Dr Bowie and all at the hospital escaped with bare life . It brought the trib al life of the Lonwolwol people to a close , for they were scattered far and wide as re fugee s; but the very process of their dispersion further spread their linguistic influence . On the east coast of Malekula opposite Dip Point there still exists a small colony of Ambrym re fugees or their descendants; and at Ranmuwuhu village on the north of Ambrym the small community continued to speak a good deal of the Lonwolwol dialect fairly consistently . It was on the solid basis of such linguistic foundations that I decided to continue the use of the Lonwolwol dialect in my work as a missionary on Ambrym from 1933 to 1948 . It remains to be said that in my attempt to record the language and life of Ambrym, I have i� no way tried to mould the record on alien or classical models , but rather to express it in it s truly native genius and function .