[Arlyne23778]

Its a mixture of both. I can’t think of any words with my limited knowledge of ANY native language that would sound like what you’re talking about, but I do go to the pow-wows and religous ceremonies of my mother who, though mostly white, follows Oddawa traditional ceremonies and have noticed much the same and eventually got around to asking. The main answer is this: If you’re hearing this on tape or publically somewhere, be it at a pow wow or exibition, it’s likely half and half. It sounds good, it goes with the drum, and so it’s used. Some of them may well be actual words though, despite how they sound. I call my Mum ‘neigna’ half the time, which is Ojibway for ‘mother’. Most people just assume it’s some random sounds that I used for her in childhood and will laugh and mock it back at me ‘knee-yen-ga?’ (it’s actually pronounced much like its spelled, Neen-ga, but some people have a hard time satying it). In ceremonial songs a lot of this ‘filler’ has been cut out, leaving the music if a bit abrupt and harsh sounding, without uneccesary meaningless things that could offend the spirits. A possibible explination for this in social music that I have been given is that when people were put on the mixed tribe reservations they usually didn’t speak each others language so came up with ‘meaningless’ songs to share with each other to pass the time, without possibly pissing off their ancestors who may not like outsiders knowing spiritually-relevent songs without knowing their meaning/when and where they should be used. Hope that clarifies the issue somewhat for you.

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Name : Arlyne23778, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 17, City : Middle of nowhere, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Social class : Lower class, 

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