Ngiyampaa ngiya guthigu ngiyali (Ngiyampaa Words for Talking About Songs): Creating Mayi (Aboriginal) Language for Musicology in a Language Revitalization Context

<p dir="ltr">Mayi (Aboriginal) songs of central-western New South Wales hold power from Country and are connected to a line of Ancestors that can be felt when listened to. However, Aboriginal songs of Australia are often analysed through Western musicology and Western musical notation systems, which may not be appropriate to the contexts for Mayi Language, Country, and Culture in which the songs originate. Mayi in New South Wales are revitalizing their Languages after surviving cultural and Language genocide. In this situation, how can Mayi analyse songs within our own cultural understanding and our own Language while relearning and revitalizing our Language? How can analysing our songs support this Language revitalization? As a Mayi singer researching historical singers and speakers of Ngiyampaa and neighbouring Languages, I suggest a more suitable form of notating and analysing songs to represent them in their cultural context and attempt to revitalize specialist Mayi musicology terms and Language for discussing and passing on Mayi songs.</p>