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<p>Dear all,</p>
<p>Thanks for all the nice examples of cumulative songs, and do
please keep them coming in.</p>
<p>I have already learned an important thing from the responses so
far. While cumulative songs and stories seem to be widespread
around the world, they kind of recursive syntactic embedding
accompanying such cumulation that is found in the likes of "House
that Jack Built" and "Had Gadya", seems to have a much narrower
distribution, and so far no examples have come to light from other
"non-WEIRD" parts of the world. Are there really no such cases
from elsewhere?</p>
<p>I would like to be able to conclude that such syntactic recursion
is a characteristic feature of WEIRD languages and cultures, but
am sticking my neck out in order to invite counterexamples ...</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>David<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/02/2023 16:13, David Gil wrote:<br>
</div>
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cite="mid:d83c6d6d-119e-974b-20cd-4f8652a42ec1@shh.mpg.de">
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<p>Dear all,</p>
<p>A cumulative song is one in which each unit, or stanza,
introduces an additional layer of syntactic embedding, such as
the following ...</p>
<dl>
<dd>This is the house that Jack built.</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dd>This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dd>This is the rat that ate the malt</dd>
<dd>That lay in the house that Jack built.</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dd>This is the cat</dd>
<dd>That killed the rat that ate the malt</dd>
<dd>That lay in the house that Jack built.</dd>
</dl>
<dl>
<dd>This is the dog that worried the cat</dd>
<dd>That killed the rat that ate the malt</dd>
<dd>That lay in the house that Jack built.</dd>
</dl>
<p>... and so forth. Perhaps the earliest example of a cumulative
song is the Jewish Aramaic hymn <i>Had Gadya</i>.</p>
<p>My query: Is anybody familiar with examples of cumulative songs
from other non-WEIRD cultures and languages. While my main
interest is in "indigenous" attestations, I would also be
interested in successful adaptations and translations of western
cumulative songs into other languages.</p>
<p>(Background to the query: I am interested in exploring
variation in the propensity of different languages to make use
of syntactic embedding. My focus is on languages such as
Malay/Indonesian, which have various tools to construct embedded
clauses but generally choose not to make use of them in natural
discourse. I would like to test the hypothesis that such
cumulative songs are absent or otherwise less successful in such
languages.)</p>
<p>Thanks,</p>
<p>David<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de" moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, Leipzig, 04103, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-082113720302
</pre>
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