Kuyfike awkiñ dungu / The echo of ancient voices: texts form Mapuche spoken tradition compiled in the late 19th century

Abstract

This book is an updated version of the first substantial collection of traditional Mapuche literature, compiled in late-nineteenth-century Chile by German-born linguist Rudolf Lenz. The texts are provided by a number of indigenous men and women from across the Mapuche territories who, in turn, represent a far more deeply-rooted oral tradition. The texts include stories about animals and the supernatural, historical narratives and songs. This new version of the materials aims to bring the content of the original texts closer to contemporary readers, both cultrally and linguistically. With this in mind, the texts are presented in a more contemporay orthography for Mapudungun (the ancestral language of the Mapuche people), alongside updated Spanish translations. The edition also offers an approximation to the pronunciation of the materials, as they were recited in the particular locality, time and style of the speakers, updating Lenz’s phonetic script to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).