In The Song from the Mango Tree,
Dr. Wrigglesworth presents a selection of five narratives
from the oral narrative repertoire of Ilianen Manobo
raconteur Ampatuan Ampalid. Manobo narratives are not only
a rich repository of cultural knowledge and belief but are
also used in the argumentation process, as in the
settlement of Manobo custom-law cases. When these
narratives are employed as 'parable'
sempità in establishing precedent in the
settlement of Manobo custom-law cases, their reiterative
force is unexcelled in Manobo oral tradition.
The narratives are presented in diglot form
with English translations done directly from performances
by the Manobo traditional storyteller in his own language.
Comparative notes are provided, illuminating the oral
literature classifications (according to Aarne &
Thompson classification of world oral literature) and the
diaspora of the narratives.
An Introduction deals with Mr. Ampalid's
acquisition of his narrative repertoire as a result of his
travels with his chieftain father in the settling of Manobo
custom-law cases. His style reveals a control of rhetorical
devices that prove him to be a master in the art of
maintaining the emotional involvement of his audience
throughout an entire night. Audience-interaction is
documented for one complete narrative performance,
revealing the narrator's involvement of his audience as
Manobo society's folk-jurors as they respond with moral
assessments of the story-participants' character.
As a narrator of Manobo traditional oral
literature, Mr. Ampalid fills an important role in his
society, for his repertoire embodies the very Manobo
cultural heritage that has thus far been successfully
preserved rut te kelukesan te enenayan ne melimbag rut
te langun dut te sikami ne Manuvu 'from our very first
ancestors created down to all of us Manobos today'. That
such a heritage bears continuance constitutes a sacred
obligation upon every Manobo.
Hazel Wrigglesworth is a linguistic researcher with the
Summer Institute of Linguistics, Philippines. The Song
from the Mango Tree is documented with more than
thirty years experience in oral literature research. It is
the first in a two-volume set of narratives from the oral
narrative repertoire of Ampatuan Ampalid.
2004. Manila: LSP. xi, pp.281. ISBN: 971-780-015-4
(Linguistic Society of the Philippines
Special Monograph Issue, 50)
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