OLAC Record oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C3A2-B

Metadata
Title:		Swemye – House Opening
		The Traditional Songs And Poetry Of Upper Assam – A Multifaceted Linguistic and Ethnographic Documentation of the Tangsa, Tai and Singpho Communities in Margherita, Northeast India
Contributor:		Stephen Morey
Contributor (consultant):		Swemye Sangwal
Coverage:		India
Date:		2010-01-11
Description:		Two recordings in which Swemye Sangwal speaks about new house construction according to the old customs. These consist of the following sound files: SDM28-20100111-01_SM_T_Swemye_HouseOpening.wav SDM28-20100111-02_SM_T_Swemye_HouseOpening_Singpho.wav The details of these recordings are as follows: SDM28-20100111-01_SM_T_Swemye_HouseOpening.wav; Duration 11’48” SDM28-20100111-02_SM_T_Swemye_HouseOpening_Singpho.wav;Duration 4’57” Items in paretheses are added by Kamchat Longri and his wife. Last nights, new house construction, in the old customs, there was a house opening - ntaq tingson sang ‘entering the new house’. In the custom of the times of the grandfathers, in the time of Măhtum Măhta, there was a buffalo sacrifice. A tree stick (bamboo) would be planted and this would be used for augury. (These might be crossed as in the festival ‘altar’ at Phulbari). The buffalo’s legs would be tied, And the augury would be performed with alcohol. The buffalo would be stabbed with a lance (paq in some Tangsa varieties) under ths shoulder. And this would kill it, Then its stomach would be split and and carried up into the new house. Its skin would all be skinned and the meat would be distributed by the dumsa to the whole village for cooking. And then the liver and heart would the first to be prepared for augury. And then he would say to the Nat Gun (mătuet măte² in Lochhang), “Is the augury good? by pouring alcohol and then asking about the future health &c. The dumsa would then call all the family, and tie their wrists with thread – ri git (Lochhang jah khah). The dumsa would get a lăhkwi tree and make thread of it, (rai hi³ rai bin² in Lochhang). This would be used for the thread tying. First the father of the house would have his wrists tied, saying to the nat gun “Let it be right, let it be good, that there be no disease, no illnes, no problem. Let the produce (nai mam) be good, let enough money be received. Let there be no disease (ana roka). Let it be good for all the country and people.” And saying that it is good, “From today it will good,” and thus the augury is done. (A small portion of each part of meat and other dishes will be presented to the Nat Gun).
		This project contains linguistic, musicological, ethnographic and other cultural information about three communities in Upper Assam: Singpho, Tai and Tangsa. The recordings and analyses have been done by Stephen Morey, together with Palash Kumar Nath (Gauhati University), Juergen Schoepf (Phonogrammarchiv, Vienna), Meenaxi Barkataki Ruscheweyh (Goettingen Academy of Sciences), Chaichuen Khamdaengyodtai (Rajabhat University, Chiang Mai), Zeenat Tabassum (Gauhati University), Karabi Mazumder (Gauhati University), Krishna Boro (Gauhati University), Paul Hastie (LaTrobe University). The key aims of the project were • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the varieties of Tangsa language spoken in the Margherita Subdivision of Upper Assam, India, • to provide a comprehensive documentation of the traditional songs, and poetry of three endangered language communities in the Margherita Subdivision: the Tangsa and Singpho (both Tibeto-Burman) and the Tai (Tai-Kadai), including a study of Tai traditional manuscripts, which are highly relevant for language and culture maintenance among the Tai. Within each of these communities there is considerable linguistic and cultural diversity, so all the files have been divided up and named according to this system: Tai SDM01 Phake SDM02 Aiton SDM03 Khamyang SDM04 Ahom SDM05 Khamti Singpho SDM07 Turung SDM08 Numhpuk Hkawng SDM09 Diyun Hkawng SDM10 Tieng Hkawng Tangsa SDM11 Yongkuk SDM12 Cholim (Tonglum) SDM13 Chamchang (Kimsing) SDM14 Tikhak SDM15 Lochhang (Langching) SDM16 Ngaimong SDM17 Maitai SDM18 Shechhyoe SDM19 Mossang SDM20 Khalak SDM21 Lakkai SDM22 Longri SDM23 Hakhun SDM24 Lungkhe SDM25 Rera (Ronrang) SDM26 Sangte SDM27 Sangwal SDM28 Halang SDM29 Haseng SDM30 Mungray (Morang) SDM31 Moklum SDM32 Nokja SDM33 Hawoi (Havi) SDM34 Joglei (Jogly) SDM35 Namsang (Nocte) SDM36 Longchang Among the Tangsa, there is considerable diversity. Each group has its own name for itself and for each other group. In the list above, the name in parentheses is sometimes called the 'general name', whereas the first listed name is that used by the group for themselves. The naming of Tangsa groups needs considerable further research
		Born In the hills. He speaks Hacheng because his mother was Hacheng
Identifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C3A2-B
Publisher:		Stephen Morey
		Research Centre for Linguistic Typology, La Trobe University
Subject:		Ritual/religious texts
		Unspecified
		Tase Naga language
		Tangsa - Hahcheng variety (general name Hasang)
		Singpho language
Subject (ISO639):		nst
		sgp
OLAC Info
Archive:		The Language Archive at the MPI for Psycholinguistics
Description:		http://www.language-archives.org/archive/www.mpi.nl
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for OLAC format
GetRecord:		Pre-generated XML file
OAI Info
OaiIdentifier:		oai:www.mpi.nl:1839_00-0000-0000-0017-C3A2-B
DateStamp:		2017-04-21
GetRecord:		OAI-PMH request for simple DC format
Search Info
Citation:		Stephen Morey; Swemye Sangwal (consultant). 2010-01-11. Stephen Morey.
Terms:		area_Asia country_IN country_MM iso639_nst iso639_sgp
Inferred Metadata
Country:		IndiaMyanmar
Area:		Asia