(2) Pissutaramaima tavunga tavunga.
Pissutaramaima tavunga tavunga tavungadlo tavunga, &c.
The rhythm of the songs will best be understood by examining the melodies. Every long syllable may be replaced by two or even three short ones; other short syllables appear as unaccented parts before the accented part of a measure; in short, the rhythmic adaptation of the words to the melody is very arbitrary and interchanges frequently occur, so that it is impossible to speak of metric feet. At the same time this furnishes distinct proof that the musical rhythm is the decisive element in determining the form. The rhythmic arrangement of the words is regulated with considerable exactness by the quantity of the syllables, and not by the accent. While, for instance, in speaking, it would be “palirtu´gun,” in song No. IV it is “palir´tugun´,” and in No. I “tekto´roti´kelek´tlune,” instead of “tektorotikelektlu´ne,” &c. Such displacements of the accent, however, are avoided if possible, and in the best and most popular songs they hardly appear at all.
The numbers refer to the songs printed below, so “No. I” is the Summer Song, No. II above. But the quoted word “tektorotikelektlune” occurs only in the first version.
The construction of the songs corresponds entirely with that of the music, inasmuch as every melody and every rhythmically spoken song is made up of musical, that is, rhythmic, phrases which are divided by cæsuræ. Repetitions of the same phrases are very frequent. The adaptation of the melodies to our divisions of time and measure is also somewhat arbitrary, as they frequently consist of a mixture of three and four part phrases. It is for this reason that I have noted down some songs without any division into bars or measures and in those cases have only marked the accented syllables.
Among the twenty melodies and rhythmic poems we find ten of binary measures, five of triple measures, and six of mixed ones. Of the whole number, nine begin on the full bar, eleven on the arsis.
The melodies move within the following range: In a fifth (No. III), one; in a minor sixth (Nos. VII, IX, X), three; in a major sixth (Nos. II, IV, XVII), three; in a seventh (Nos. XII, XIV), two; in an octave, (Nos. I, II, V, VIII, XI, XVI), six; in a minor ninth (No. VI), one; in a major ninth (No. V), one; in a tenth (No. XIII), one.
These may be divided into two very characteristic and distinct groups. The first, which would coincide with our major key, contains the following essential tones:
[[Music]]