Five South Indian Oral Epics: Textual analysis, comparison, social relevance

在过去的几十年里，印度和世界各地的学者越来越意识到南亚地区语言口述史诗的重要性。尽管如此，这些宝贵的原始资料大多没有被记录或翻译，更不用说分析或研究了。需要进一步的工作，特别是关于这些文本在特定社区和社会群体中的传播模式，文本嵌入宗教和社会实践的方式，以及文本在个人和群体身份构成中的作用，包括语言社区和更大的社会群体的身份。该项目旨在根据南印度语、德拉威语、图卢语和卡纳达语的口述史诗来解决这些问题。拟进行的研究包括史诗文本或其中部分的新记录，采用语言学田野调查的方法；他们与早期记录的版本的比较，如果有的话；采访歌手（包括女性和男性）和其他了解传统的人；以及表演背景的记录，尤其是仪式背景。将特别关注最近的发展：例如，某些社区或其代表已经开始以前所未有的方式控制和册封传统的文本和表演方面，并利用它来要求更高的社会地位和特权获得物质和政治资源在他们的地区。最后但并非最不重要的是，我们将探讨性别在多大程度上可以解释这些过程方向上的显著差异。

During the past few decades, scholars in India and throughout the world have increasingly realized the significance of oral epics in South Asian regional languages. Despite this, most of these valuable source materials have not been recorded or translated, let alone analyzed or studied. Further work is needed, especially on the modes of transmission of these texts in particular communities and social groups, on the ways that the texts are embedded in religious and social practices, and on the texts' roles in the constitution of individual and group identities, including those of language communities and larger social groups.The project aims at addressing these questions on the basis of oral epics in the South Indian, Dravidian languages Tulu and Kannada. The proposed study comprises fresh recordings of epic texts or portions of them, applying methods of linguistic fieldwork; their comparison with versions recorded earlier, if available; interviews with singers (both female and male) and with other people who know the traditions; and the documentation of the performance contexts, especially the ritual context. Special attention will be paid to more recent developments: for example, certain communities or their representatives have started in unprecedented ways to control and canonise textual and performative dimensions of the tradition, and to use it to claim higher social status and privileged access to material and political resources in their region. Last but not least, we will explore to what extent gender can account for significant differences in the direction these processes take.