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1. 1 2020-07-10T12:16:30+00:00 Jennifer Fraser 404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3 Place: Agam Jennifer Fraser 11 Agam is one of the three luak, central regions of the darek (Minangkabau homeland). It is also the name for a kabupaten in contemporary Indonesian administrative terms. google_maps 2021-04-29T12:23:24+00:00 -0.31535, 100.03265 Jennifer Fraser 404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3
2. 1 2020-07-10T12:16:32+00:00 Jennifer Fraser 404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3 Place: Lake Maninjau Jennifer Fraser 11 Lake Maninjau, a crater lake, is the second largest lake in West Sumatra. The whole region around it is known generally as Maninjau. google_maps 2022-02-08T12:59:39+00:00 -0.3161, 100.19273 Jennifer Fraser 404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3
3. 1 2020-07-10T12:16:36+00:00 Jennifer Fraser 404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3 Place: Tanjuang Raya Jennifer Fraser 4 Tanjuang Raya is a kecamatan in Kabupaten Agam. google_maps 2021-04-28T13:53:45+00:00 -0.2991, 100.22449 Jennifer Fraser 404477000adfd4e5c7a1128cfac82e1fc740e8c3

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• 1 2021-08-02T19:49:21+00:00 Structure of Pantun 16 Formal features of pantun plain 2021-08-03T20:09:19+00:00 Pantun is a poetic form found throughout the Malay world, which includes the Minangkabau region, some other parts of Sumatra, parts of Java and Kalimantan, and parts of Malaysia.
  
  There are a number of formal features to the poetic structure. The list below represents them according to Minangkabau understandings and applications of the form.   
  1. The lines are eight or nine syllables long. 
  2. They are structured in two equal halves. In saluang, these are referred to as the batang (literally "branch") and isi (literally "content"). In Minang contexts, batang draws on references to the natural environment, specific places, and/or the context of performance. The isi contains the content, which is usually a moralistic or philosophical message. Sometimes, when people quote a pantun, the only include the isi. 
  3. The two halves must having matching rhyme schemes
  4. The length may range. In saluang, there are examples from four to twenty-four lines total. The most "standard" is probably the 4-line version. 
  Let me illustrate with the first pantun I ever learned, which is four lines in total. I present it separate from the song itself, as it could technically be adopted to any tune that can accommodate a four-line pantun.     
  1. Janiah aia talago biru                                               
  2. Nampak dari Koto Malintang
  3. Piliah mamak nan katuju
  4. Bungo sakabun nan kakambang.          

  Syllable Length

  1. Jan/iah ai/a ta/la/go bir/u                                   
  2. Nam/pak dar/i Ko/to Mal/in/tang 
  3. Pil/iah ma/mak nan ka/tu/ju
  4. Bung/o sa/ka/bun nan ka/kam/bang    

  The lines are: 9, 9, 8, and 9 respectively, depending on how you deal with elision of "iah." 

  Formal Structure

  1st half: Batang       

  Janiah aia talago biru
  Nampak dari Koto Malintang             

  2nd half: Isi                    

  Piliah mamak nan katuju
  Bungo sakabun nan kakambang        

  Rhyme Sceme

  Batang

  1. Janiah aia talago biru                                               
  2. Nampak dari Koto Malintang

  Isi

  1. Piliah mamak nan katuju
  2. Bungo sakabun nan kakambang.          

  Scheme

  The rhyme scheme is indicated above with the bold text, which is as follows. 
  a: "u"
  b: "ang"
  a: "u"
  b: "ang"

  Translation and interpretation

  1st half: Batang       

  Janiah aia talago biru
  Nampak dari Koto Malintang             

  2nd half: Isi                    

  Piliah mamak nan katuju
  Bungo sakabun nan kakambang        

  Batang

  Clear water in the blue pond
  Visible from Koto Malintang.
  
  This batang draws on a reference to the natural environment in a specific place. The "talago biru" (blue pond) is a reference to Lake Maninjau, which is visible from the nagari of Koto Malintang.  
  
  
  
  Isi

  Choose wisely uncle from 
  The flowers in the garden. 

  This isi, like all isi, is not thematically connected to the first half. The isi delivers advice using a metaphorical reference, telling the mamak--the maternal uncle, who is historically a more important authority figure over his sister’s children than their own father in the Minangkabau matrilineal system—to choose wisely from the flowers in the garden when picking a bride for his nephew. Here the flower is a metaphor for a young woman. 

  Another Example

  To illustrate the principles, here is a second example which was delivered as part of the song "Pariaman Panjang" at a recording session in 2016 (see this rendition). I heard a variant of it delivered in the same song four days later at a performance in Sariak Laweh, suggesting that it is a pantun baku. This one is twelve lines in length, rather than 4. The rhyme scheme is more complex: abcdef/abcdef. 

  Batang

  1. Manih tabunyo rang Piaman                                        
  2. Dikilang sadiang mandaki                                            
  3. Urek di lingkah layang-layang                                      
  4. Daunnyo banyak nan patah                                         
  5. Patah dek ribuik pagi hari                                            
  6. Sado nan patah lareh juo                          

  Isi

  1. Manangih Gunuang Pasaman                                      
  2. Tambah hanguih Gunuang Marapi                    
  3. Taisak Gunuang Singgalang                                         
  4. Managun aia di lurah                                                     
  5. Cando baniaik kok dak jadi                                            
  6. Ka tau utang awak di namo  

  Translation and Interpretation

  Batang

  The sugar cane of the Pariaman people is sweet
  It’s squeezed while walking
  The roots are sat on by swallows
  The leaves have many that are broken
  Broken by strong wind in the morning
  All that are broken fall off.

  Isi

  Mt. Pasaman is crying
  Mt. Merapi is often smoldering
  Mt. Singgalang sobs
  The water in streams has stopped flowing
  It is like the interest doesn’t come. 
  We already have a name. 
  
  Batang: The batang is relatively descriptive about a place and nature. It talks about the sweetness of sugar cane grown in Pariaman, a way of establishing connection to the place, Pariaman, but also about sugarcane, wind, and birds.
  Isi: The mountains here, which are important landmarks in the Minangkabau region, are a metaphor for people: the father is crying, the mother is crying, the whole family and surrounding community is sobbing. But there is a second layer of metaphorical reference. It is a metaphor for an individual who is romantically interested in someone but the interested party does not reciprocate.