Abstract
This study is based on a corpus of duel songs from the traditional Ammassalik culture (Southeastern Greenland), published by the anthropologists P.-É. Victor and J. Robert-Lamblin. In this culture, the duel is a moment in the development of a quarrel, originating in a conflictual event; one of the partners challenges the other to a song duel. Our study focuses upon the basic argumentative strategies of defense and counter attack used to reject the accusation. The charges range from what may seem to us the most serious ones, to apparently the most frivolous. The defensive strategies range from serious replies to mere jokes, making fun of the opponent. Formally, the reproached action can be denied, or acknowledged and rejected on other grounds. The defendant often just counter-attacks, either by disqualifying the accuser, or by reversing the charge. The data shows that the duel song is not essentially a “court of assize”. Beyond its cathartic function, the duel is show given by the participants to a participating audience.
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Notes
Henceforth, the reference (V., 1991) will be used to refer to Victor et al. (1991).
For example, songs referenced as Tasiilaq nr. 29 and nr. 20 (V., 43–44); Kulusuk nr. 100 (V. p. 58), etc.
Ammassat, “capelins”; Ammassalik is the name of the place where shoals of capeling gather in springtime.
Lines 13 and 14 are translated in the same way:
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12.
people are not going to think much good of me
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13.
when they come to the singing duel ippittit tigerippala
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14.
when they come to attend the singing duel sorsuttut tigerippala
In 13., ippittit means “to feel pain, to suffer”, while in 14. sorsuttut means “to attack”. The pronoun they refers to people. It seems that the audience (those who “come to the singing duel”) is referred to as composed of two groups, “those who suffer” and “those who attack”. So, a possible translation would be: “ people coming to the singing duel [i.e. 13. those who suffer and 14. those who attack] are not going to think much good of me”. Scene and audience are one, they share the same antagonistic structure…
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12.
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Acknowledgements
Our best thanks go to Joëlle Robert-Lamblin, who has kindly accepted to read this paper and to share her corrections and remarks with us. We are solely responsible for the remaining mistakes and misinterpretations.
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Plantin, C. Attack, Defense and Counter-Attack in the Inuit Duel Songs of Ammassalik. Argumentation 35, 51–72 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-020-09528-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10503-020-09528-w