Decoding Southern African Folktales using Hylistic Analysis

Abstract

In this submission, the potential of hylistic analysis for the domain of Southern African folklore is demonstrated. For that purpose, narrative sequences of folktales are carefully re-constructed according to the new hylistic theory and analysed on a subset of 30 folktales from Henry Callaway's Nursery Tales and Histories of the Zulus, a unique parallel resource in English-vernacular isiZulu. 

The dataset, consisting of 5176 distinct narrative statements, so-called hylemes in 384 narrative sequences, is presented as a freely accessible resource which holds transformative potential for the re-interpretation and (automatic) processing of folktale narratives. It is the first step towards a thorough investigation of Callaway's collection, and an effort to the analysis of the tales' narrative structures. The dataset can be used as a resource for many future studies on folktale characters and plots as well as the study of historical isiZulu.