From Prosody to Rhythm: Modelling the Structure of Karakkereng in the Bugis Massureq Tradition as Humanistic Intelligence
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33096/tamaddun.v25i1.1342Keywords:
Massureq Karakkereng, prosody and rhythm, I La Galigo, humanistic intelligence, intangible cultural heritage, Bugis oral traditionAbstract
Massureq, the Bugis oral epic-chanting tradition of South Sulawesi, integrates the prosodic organisation of the I La Galigo text with Karakkereng, a cyclical percussive structure that shapes performance time. This study models the correspondence between linguistic prosody and Karakkereng rhythm and considers its implications for humanistic intelligence and culturally responsive digital preservation. Using a mixed-method ethnomusicological case-study design, the research combined participant observation, interviews, and acoustic analysis in Praat of twelve excerpts from the Sawerigading Opunna Ware episode, performed by Itangang, an authoritative passure’ from Barru Regency. Three systematic correspondence rules were identified. First, vowels lasting at least 0.30 seconds corresponded to doubled or dotted beat values in 78% of syllable-beat pairs. Second, syllables with fundamental-frequency prominence of 28–45% above the performer’s mean received the primary metric accent in 81% of cases. Third, inter-clausal pauses of at least 300 milliseconds consistently marked the beginning of a new uleng-uleng rhythmic cycle, yielding 100% reliability within the corpus. The co-occurrence of vowel lengthening and high F0 prominence produced mappellong, a fully accented strike observed in 94% of relevant cases. These findings demonstrate that Karakkereng is not an independent musical accompaniment but an audible realisation of Classical Bugis prosodic structure. The resulting model gives empirical form to humanistic intelligence by showing how phonological knowledge, rhythmic competence, and embodied performance are inseparable in Massureq practice. It also provides a foundation for phonetically annotated archival corpora, culturally sensitive AI-assisted retrieval, and apprenticeship-oriented performance assessment. Further multi-performer research is needed to test its broader transferability.
References
Abu Eyadah, A., and A. Odaibat. 2024. “Humanistic Intelligence and Generative AI: Boundaries of Cultural Heritage Representation.” Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-2023-0174
Amir, M., and J. Dalle. 2017. “Bugis Phonology: Lexical Stress and F0 Prominence in Contemporary Speech.” Jurnal Linguistik Indonesia 35 (2): 115–134.
ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity. 2021. State of Biodiversity and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia. ASEAN Secretariat.
Boersma, P., and D. Weenink. 1992–2024. Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer (Version 6.3.x) [Computer software]. Institute of Phonetic Sciences. https://www.praat.org
Braun, V., and V. Clarke. 2019. “Reflecting on Reflexive Thematic Analysis.” Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health 11 (4): 589–597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676X.2019.1628806
Denzin, N. K. 1978. The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. 2nd ed. McGraw-Hill.
Dreyfus, H. L. 1972. What Computers Can’t Do: A Critique of Artificial Reason. Harper & Row.
Druce, S. C. 2009. The Lands West of the Lakes: A History of the Ajattappareng Kingdoms of South Sulawesi, 900 to 1600 CE. KITLV Press.
Erickson, T. 2021. “Poem-Song Unity in Endangered Language Musical Poetry: Structural Interdependence and Performative Coherence.” Language Documentation & Conservation 15: 421–458.
Fachruddin Ambo Enre. 1999. Ritumpanna Wélenrénngé: Sebuah episoda sastra Bugis klasik [Ritumpanna Wélenrénngé: an episode of classical Bugis literature]. Yayasan Obor Indonesia.
Flyvbjerg, B. 2006. “Five Misunderstandings about Case-Study Research.” Qualitative Inquiry 12 (2): 219–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800405284363
Foley, J. M. 1995. The Singer of Tales in Performance. Indiana University Press.
Geertz, C. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. Basic Books.
Gibbon, D. 2017. “Prosody: Rhythm and Melody of Speech.” In Handbook of Phonetics, edited by J. J. Ohala, H. Kawasaki-Fukumori, B. Solé, and D. Brentari, 192–218. Cambridge University Press.
Gut, U., and P. S. Bayerl. 2004. “Measuring the Reliability of Manual Annotations of Speech Corpora.” In Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2004, 565–568. SProSIG.
Hou, Y., X. Zhang, and W. Li. 2022. “Digital Preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Systematic Review.” Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 26: e00236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.daach.2022.e00236
Hyman, L. M. 2009. “How (Not) to Do Phonological Typology: The Case of Pitch-Accent.” Language Sciences 31 (2–3): 213–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2008.12.007
Inbar, A., E. Zion-Golumbic, and M. Grossman. 2020. “Prosodic Rhythm as a Temporal Anchor for Speech Comprehension.” NeuroImage 222: 117248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117248
Kern, R. A. 1939. I La Galigo: De Bruiloft van La Massangka en I Payung Tasik. Bibliotheca Javanica.
Kern, R. A. 1989. I La Galigo. Revised and edited by Nurhayati Rahman. Gadjah Mada University Press.
Köhler, W. 1929. Gestalt Psychology. Liveright.
Lamekina, D., A.-L. Giraud, and D. Poeppel. 2024. “Prosodic Rhythm as a Predictor of Utterance Duration: Neural and Behavioral Evidence.” Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 36 (4): 712–731. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_02107
Lerdahl, F., and R. Jackendoff. 1983. A Generative Theory of Tonal Music. MIT Press.
Macknight, C. C., and P. Mukhlis. 1983. “A Bugis Manuscript about Proa” [with notes on transcription of Bugis percussion notation]. Archipel 25: 131–151.
Mann, S. 2001. Humanistic Intelligence: Wearable Computing and the Augmentation of Human Capabilities. MIT Press.
Nettl, B. 2005. The Study of Ethnomusicology: Thirty-One Issues and Concepts. 2nd ed. University of Illinois Press.
Pelras, C. 1996. The Bugis. Blackwell.
Polanyi, M. 1966. The Tacit Dimension. Doubleday.
Salim, A. G., M. Sikki, Z. Hakim, and N. Salam. 1992. Struktur sastra lisan Bugis [Structure of Bugis oral literature]. Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa.
Seasia.co. 2025. “Massureq: The Ancient Bugis Oral Tradition Still Alive in South Sulawesi.” Seasia.co. https://seasia.co/2025/01/15/massureq-bugis-oral-tradition
Seifart, F., J. Meyer, L. Gawne, and A. Eigenfeldt. 2018. “Reducing Language to Rhythm: Amazonian Bora Drummed Language Exploits Speech Rhythm for Long-Distance Communication.” Royal Society Open Science 5 (4): 170354. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170354
Selkirk, E. O. 1984. Phonology and Syntax: The Relation between Sound and Structure. MIT Press.
Shattuck-Hufnagel, S., and A. E. Turk. 1996. “A Prosody Tutorial for Investigators of Auditory Sentence Processing.” Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 25 (2): 193–247. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01708572
Sirk, Ü. 1986. “Bugis Vowel Length and the Metrical System of the I La Galigo Corpus.” Oceanic Linguistics 25 (1–2): 137–161.
Spennemann, D. H. R. 2024. “Generative AI and Intangible Cultural Heritage: Limits of Machine Creativity in Representing Human Expressive Culture.” Heritage 7 (3): 1423–1441. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7030068
Strauss, A., and J. Corbin. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. 2nd ed. SAGE.
Talaohu, A., A. Rasyid, and Z. A. Gaffar. 2019. “Pola prosodi dalam puisi lisan Bugis: Analisis fonetik eksperimental” [Prosodic patterns in Bugis oral poetry: an experimental phonetic analysis]. Linguistika 26 (1): 47–62.
Tracy, S. J. 2010. “Qualitative Quality: Eight ‘Big-Tent’ Criteria for Excellent Qualitative Research.” Qualitative Inquiry 16 (10): 837–851. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410383121
UNESCO. 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger. 3rd ed. UNESCO Publishing.
UNESCO. 2011. “La Galigo–Sureq Galigo: Memory of the World Register.” UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/la-galigo-sureq-galigo
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Rahmat Kurniawan, Sri Riski Wulandari, Muh. Kurniawan Adi K.W
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with Tamaddun journal agree to the following terms:
1. Authors retain the copyright and grant Tamaddun the right of first publication. The work will be licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits others to share the work with proper acknowledgment of the authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2. Authors may enter into additional non-exclusive agreements for the distribution of the published version of their work (e.g., posting it to an institutional repository or including it in a book), provided that the initial publication in this journal is acknowledged.
3. Authors are encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal websites) before and during the submission process. This can lead to productive exchanges and increase the visibility and citation of the published work.
