If You Go Down to the Soak Today: Symbolism and Structure in an Arandic Children’s Story

Jennifer Green · Myfany Turpin

102 citations0/0 files storedAnthropological linguistics

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Australian Indigenous Culture and History Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies Language and Culture

Abstract

In an Aboriginal children’s story from Central Australia, small creatures such as dragon lizards and ground-dwelling insect larvae known as ant lions convey rich symbolic meanings. This article analyzes the story, song, and graphic schema of a story that reinforces the dangers of being alone and the unpredictable incarnations of malevolent characters. By comparing versions in several Arandic languages, we elucidate the network of social and cultural meanings of the story and the poetic and artistic devices used to express them. We suggest that formalized children’s “play” routines such as this story perform an important role in socialization in Arandic society.

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References

1973Walbiri Iconography: Graphic Representation and Cultural Symbolism in a Central Australian Society 1971Songs of Central Australia 1989Mparntwe Arrernte (Aranda) : studies in the structure and semantics of grammar 2008Children’s Language and Multilingualism : Indigenous Language Use at Home and School 1997The comparative method reviewed : Regularity and irregularity in language change. Ed. by Mark Durie and Malcolm Ross. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Pp. vi, 321. $75.00.1994Eastern and Central Arrernte to English Dictionary 1979Australian Aboriginal Concepts.1886The Australian Race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia, and the routes by which it spread itself over that continent.

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2014With or Without Speech: Arandic Sign Language from Central Australia 2023The Oxford Guide to Australian Languages 2016Multimodal complexity in sand story narratives 2018Rapikwenty: ‘A loner in the ashes’ and other songs for sleeping 2023Phonotactics

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