Selected Lyrics of Bontok’s “Antoway, Ayoweng, and Chag-Ay” Songs: An Initial Stylistic Assessment

Most of the studies of Bontok songs in Bontoc, Mountain Province, Philippines have focused on the need to preserve an aspect of the “Ifuntok” (people of Bontoc) society, but the major aim of this paper first proposes an understanding of the Tokwifi’s “Antoway”, Bacwaden’s “Ayyoweng”, and Khensay’s “Chag-ay”, commonly regarded as songs of the Bontoks during wakes and funerals, taking into consideration its intrinsic potential on literary themes and musicality. This paper then organizes the framework of Prototype and Relevance Theory and applies it to the selected songs found in the three collections. It attempts to express how prototype and relevance theory can improve not only a thematic analysis of the selected songs, but also the extra-textual interpretations that can be drawn from them. In doing so, it adds to the contemporary thoughtful understanding of Bontok indigenous tradition, as they are deceptively eliminated of the impression of the past, recontextualized in today’s literature and music curriculum, and associated in contemporary free issues and concerns in the Bontok community.