Pre Col Flashcards
(17 cards)
Characteristics of Pre-colonial Literature (Lumbera & Lumbera 2 – 3)
- It was basically oral.
o It reflected community life, i.e., subject was ordinary day-to-day experiences
such as household chores and food gathering.
o It used common day-to-day language.
o It carried the conventions of common oral literary forms, i.e., “repetition,
stereotyping of characters, regular rhythmic and musical devices”
o “Ownership” of literary works was “communal.”
o Anybody was a potential author.
These are short rhymed puzzles, usually in a couplet, intended as a form of entertainment in social gatherings such as during a wake, or when a woman’s hand was formally asked for in marriage (pamamanhikan). It is known as tigmo in Cebuano, paktakon in Ilongo,
patototdon in Bicol, (Godinez-Ortega 1), burburtia in Ilokano, and bonikew in Pangasinan.
Riddles or bugtong
Similar to the bugtong, it is a short verse in a rhyme, usually a couplet, which was created to teach a lesson, state a
societal norm, or offer tidbits of wisdom.
Proverbs or salawikain
refers to a poem which has every two lines with an identical rhyme or all the lines with
the same end rhyme.) These single-rimed lines, which consist of seven syllables per line, appeared in the Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala, a rare Spanish source of “early oral lore obtained direct from the people” (Lumbera
& Lumbera 3).
Monoriming heptasyllabic lines
An example of a monoriming heptasyllabic quatrain, an extended form of the proverb expressing its message with
intense emotion.
Tanaga
The Filipino is a lover of the lyric and these verses during pre-colonial times were enjoyed in melodious tones.
Folk song
(Folk song) or hele. This is a mother’s song to calm a baby or put him to sleep. The words are original and unique for each singer. This is known as ili-ili in Ilongo and duwayya in Ilokano.
Lullaby
(Folk song) This is the harana in Tagalog,
panawagan or balitao in Ilongo, bayok among the Maranaos, and tapat among the Ilokanos.
Love songs or serenade
(Folk song) This Mangyan song depicts human relationships and social entertainment and serves as a tool for teaching the
young.
Ambahan
(Folk song) The rural folks being serious in their everyday chores, they had songs for practically all important occasions such as rice planting, harvesting, drying the rice on the stalk, and pounding rice grains in the husk. Documented samples include the kalusan of the Ivatans, soliranin which is a Tagalog
rowing song, and mambayu or Kalinga rice-pounding song.
Work songs
(Folk song) This is a Cebuana and Waray drinking song.
Tagay
(Folk song) (Cebuano), annako (Bontoc), and dung-aw (Ilokano). These are the dirges and lamentations celebrating the life and
praising the deeds of the dead.
Kanogon
(Folk song) This is a type of folk narrative among the Tausug of Mindanao, focusing on the heroic feat of their legendary
heroes.
Parang-sabil
This was a verbal joust or a poetical game during wakes. It is the forerunner of balagtasan. Interestingly, some authors classify it as a folk song.
Duplo
These came in four popular forms, namely:
* Origin myths
* Hero tales
* Fables
* Legends
Prose or Folk narrative
became the forerunners of the drama
Rituals and dances
“to make the environment more comprehensible and less fearsome, and make idle
hours less tedious by filling them with humor”
Lumbera & Lumbera explain that through these prose narratives,
natural phenomena, events and beliefs were explained
