_____________________________________________________________ Volume 5 May-October 1990 Number 2-3 _____________________________________________________________ Editor Editorial Assistants John Miles Foley Sarah J. Feeny David Henderson Managing Editor Kendy Hess Lee Edgar Tyler Whitney Strait J. Chris Womack Book Review Editor Adam Brooke Davis Slavica Publishers, Inc. Slavica Publishers, Inc. For a complete catalog of books from Slavica, with prices and ordering information, write to: Slavica Publishers, Inc. P.O. Box 14388 Columbus, Ohio 43214 ISSN: 0883-5365 Each contribution copyright (c) 1990 by its author. All rights reserved. The editor and the publisher assume no responsibility for statements of fact or opinion by the authors. Oral Tradition seeks to provide a comparative and interdisciplinary focus for studies in oral literature and related fields by publishing research and scholarship on the creation, transmission, and interpretation of all forms of oral traditional expression. As well as essays treating certifiably oral traditions, OT presents investigations of the relationships between oral and written traditions, as well as brief accounts of important fieldwork, a Symposium section (in which scholars may reply at some length to prior essays), review articles, occasional transcriptions and translations of oral texts, a digest of work in progress, and a regular column for notices of conferences and other matters of interest. In addition, occasional issues will include an ongoing annotated bibliography of relevant research and the annual Albert Lord and Milman Parry Lectures on Oral Tradition. OT welcomes contributions on all oral literatures, on all literatures directly influenced by oral traditions, and on non-literary oral traditions. Submissions must follow the list-of reference format (style sheet available on request) and must be accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return or for mailing of proofs; all quotations of primary materials must be made in the original language(s) with following English translations. Authors should submit two copies of all manuscripts. Most contributions will be reviewed by at least one specialist reader and one member of the editorial board before a final decision is reached. Review essays, announcements, and contributions to the Symposium section will be evaluated by the editor in consultation with the board. Oral Tradition will appear three times per year, in January, May, and October. Annual subscription charges are $18 for individuals and $35 for libraries and other institutions. All manuscripts, books for review, items for the annual bibliography, and editorial correspondence should be directed to the editor, John Miles Foley, Center for Studies in Oral Tradition, 301 Read Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211. Printed in the United States of America. South Pacific Oral Traditions Guest Editors Ruth Finnegan Margaret Orbell EDITORIAL BOARD Patricia Arant Joseph J. Duggan Brown University Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Russian French, Spanish, comparative Samuel Armistead Alan Dundes University of California/Davis Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Hispanic, comparative Folklore Ilhan Bașgöz Mark W. Edwards Indiana University Stanford University Turkish Ancient Greek Franz H. Bäuml Ruth Finnegan Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles Open University Middle High German African, South Pacific Roderick Beaton Donald K. Fry King’s College, London Poynter Institute Modern Greek Old English Dan Ben-Amos Joseph Harris University of Pennsylvania Harvard University Folklore Old Norse Daniel Biebuyck Melissa Heckler University of Delaware New York Storytelling Center African Storytelling Issa J. Boullata Elizabeth Jeffreys McGill University University of Sydney Arabic Byzantine Greek David E. Bynum Michael Jeffreys Cleveland State University University of Sydney East European, comparative Byzantine Greek Robert P. Creed Minna Skafte Jensen Univ. of Mass./Amherst University of Copenhagen Old English, comparative Ancient Greek, Latin Robert Culley Werner Kelber McGill University Rice University Biblical Studies Biblical Studies EDITORIAL BOARD Robert Kellogg Felix J. Oinas University of Virginia Indiana University Old Germanic, comparative Finnish, Russian Eleanor Long Isidore Okpewho Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles University of Ibadan Folk Ballad African, Ancient Greek Albert B. Lord Walter J. Ong Harvard University (Emeritus) St. Louis University (Emeritus) Slavic, comparative Hermeneutics of orality and literacy Victor Mair Jeff Opland University of Pennsylvania Vassar College Chinese African, Old English John S. Miletich Svetozar Petrović Las Vegas, Nevada University of Novi Sad Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Serbo-Croatian, Critical theory comparative D. Gary Miller Burton Raffel University of Florida Univ. of Southwestern Linguistics, Ancient Greek Louisiana Translation Nada Milošević-Djordjević Alain Renoir University of Belgrade Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Serbo-Croatian (Emeritus) Old Germanic, Old French, comparative Michael Nagler Bruce A. Rosenberg Univ. of Cal./Berkeley Brown University Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Folk narrative, Medieval comparative literature Gregory Nagy Deborah Tannen Harvard University Georgetown University Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Linguistics, Discourse theory comparative Joseph Falaky Nagy Dennis Tedlock Univ. of Cal./Los Angeles SUNY/Buffalo Old Irish Native American Jacob Neusner Jeff Todd Titon Brown University Brown University Hebrew, Biblical StudiesFelix Music EDITORIAL BOARD J. Barre Toelken Ruth Webber Utah State University University of Chicago Folklore, Native American (Emerita) Spanish, comparative Leo Treitler Michael Zwettler SUNY/Stony Brook Ohio State University Music Arabic Ronald J. Turner Univ. of Missouri/Columbia Storytelling Contents Ruth Finnegan Introduction: or, Why the Comparativist Should Take Account of the South Pacific ...................................................159 Margaret Orbell “My Summit Where I Sit”: Form and Content in Maori Women’s Love Songs ...............................................................185 Wendy Pond Wry Comment from the Outback: Songs of Protest from the Niva Islands, Tonga ...........................................................205 Raymond Firth Sex and Slander in Tikopia Song: Public Antagonism and Private Intrigue .......................................................................219 Steven Feld Wept Thoughts: The Voicing of Kaluli Memories ...........................241 Allan Thomas and Ineleo Tuia Profile of a Composer: Ihaia Puka, a Pulotu of the Tokelau Islands........................................................................ 267 Judith Huntsman Fiction, Fact, and Imagination: A Tokelau Narrative ....................283 Christian Clerk “That Isn’t Really a Pig”: Spirit Traditions in the Southern Cook Islands............................................................................ 316 John D. Waiko “Head” and “Tail”: The Shaping of Oral Traditions among the Binandere in Papua New Guinea...................................... 334 James Carrier and Achsah Carrier Every Picture Tells a Story: Visual Alternatives to Oral Tradition in Ponam Society .....................................................354 Marivee McMath and Teaea Parima Winged Tangi‘ia: A Mangaian Dramatic Performance.................. 376 About the Authors ...................................................................................415 Index to Volume 5 ...................................................................................417 Oral Tradition, 5/2-3 (1990): 159-184 Introduction; or, Why the Comparativist Should Take Account of the South Pacifi c Ruth Finnegan This issue of Oral Tradition is devoted to oral traditions in the South Pacifi c and reports the results of a series of twentieth-century and mainly fi eld-based studies. Since this region may be unfamiliar to some readers, these opening comments give a very brief introduction to this vast area, followed by some discussion of the signifi cance of its oral traditions and their study for the wider comparative study of oral tradition.1 The Cultural Background and Central Theoretical Issues The scattered islands and land masses within the huge Pacifi c Ocean make up a fascinating and too little known portion of the globe—and of our human culture. It is one that, with its evocation of the noble savage and the life of nature, has for long had a romantic appeal for Westerners. But despite this (or even perhaps because of it?), the international scholarly literature outside the Pacifi c has taken surprisingly little account of the study of Pacifi c cultural forms. In particular, informed references to Pacifi c oral tradition are rare in comparative literary analyses or in theories of oral literature and tradition. This relative neglect of the Pacifi c in the comparative literature is both unfortunate and paradoxical, for as will become clear from the papers that follow this region is rich in oral literature and tradition. There is a great deal already available in the voluminous collections—both published 1 Although I am responsible for this Introduction (and therefore for all its deficiencies), I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Margaret Orbell both for all her constructive suggestions and for saving me from many errors, also for her valuable comments reproduced in the next note. 160 RUTH FINNEGAN INTRODUCTION 161 and archival—which resulted from the long tradition of scholarship in the Pacifi c2 and yet more is, like many of the examples in this volume, known