German Ballad Catalog
Introduction to the Thesaurus
The Themes and Roles listed in the Thesaurus are the heart of the search engine for the German Ballad Catalog (DBK: Deutscher Balladen-Katalog) The thematic classification by subject in a thesaurus collects and organizes traditional narrative concerns, enabling a systematic, logical and thorough search of the ballad data base.
The Themes provided in the Thesaurus express standard ballad plot ideas ocurring across many ballad versions and types. The Thesaurus classifies and organizes them into logical categories and sub-categories to enable effective searches, even for material yet unknown to the researcher.
The Thesaurus operates with a "controlled vocabulary" of Themes meant to reduce the ambiguities of everyday language to a limited, standardized set of consistent rubrics. Themes, being abstractions of actual ballad story texts, reduce the variation by which a plot element may be described to a single, stable rubric, thus enabeling searches to recover relevant data instead of failing due to inconsistent word choices or motival variations in the song texts. (Compare AFS bzw. AmAnthro Assoc. or the Library of Congress' subject lists)
These Theme rubrics function as "descriptors" or "tags" pointing to specific ballads in a data base, and are organized into classifying categories of a thesaurus in order to increase search accuracy and replicability. The drop-down menus to select appropriate Themes serve as a "guided search" to reliably lead researchers to their goal. . The Themes tag individual ballad entries in a data base, so that the user may discover ballads by means of the logically classified tag (called Themes). The ballad entries can then be retrieved by their URL address in the Catalog.
The Themes are classified: each Theme in one major category. On the other hand, a single ballad type will be tagged with several Themes and Roles in the data base as the song's plot unfolds. Some Themes will require other tags in addition (so-called "co-classification"). A song tagged with "490: complaint" will also be tagged with what the complaint is about "630: death" or about "320: separation." Each of the tagging Themes will lead to the relevant ballad entries in the Catalog.
The Thesaurus is "hierarchical"
only in the sense that any Theme is to be viewed as a member of its major category.
For example, "110: Courtship" is within the category of "100:
OFFERS, REQUESTS, DEMANDS"; that is, one character is OFFERING, REQUESTING
or DEMANDING a romantic relationship. Likewise in "Theme 210" one
person in an on-going romantic relationship in the category of "200:
Obligations, Commitments, Expectations" is "fulfilling" or
"violating" the normal expectations associated with that partnership
(legal or not). Thus the 100's series is for "lovers,"
"candidates" and "petitioners," while the 200's series is
for "spouses," "employees" and "magistrates." The
400 category is all about various "CONTESTS," be they verbal,
psychological or physical competitions.
The Thesaurus is not "hierarchical" generally. No one Theme or category is essentially more important than another. "Offers" are not more important than "Commitments," "Lovers" not more important than "Family". Within the Roles it is important to remember that relationships need not be mutual. Some Themes will imply another ("650: Murder" or "210.1; adultery" certainly imply "245.a: Betrayal"), but no Theme is bound to another. No one Theme or Role excludes any other. One theme may complement another (co-classification).
The thematic classification is organized into 10 major categories:
100 ff. OFFERS, REQUESTS, DEMANDS
Made perhaps without necessaarily being motivated by existing personal relationships, although often interpersonal relationships arise out of these actions: seductions, requests for mercy, hiring
200 ff. OBLIGATIONS, COMMITMENTS, EXPECTATIONS
Based on existing personal relationships or "reasonable" expectations arising out of such relationships (such as family, romantic or occupational relationships)
300 ff. DEPARTURES, QUESTS
Leaving, going elsewhere, for some purpose, either voluntary, necessitated or forced.
400 ff. CONTESTS (physical or psychological, etc.)
Competition (sometimes in game form) for hegemony (often no-holds-barred), ranging from "tricks" to "war."
500 ff. JOURNALISTIC ACCOUNTS, ORDEALS, ADVERSITY
Adventures, events, ordeals, adversity, feats of prowess, so-called "true occurrences" or "amazing things," often happenings in a series, sometimes leaning more towards the descriptive than to the narrative.
600 ff. DEATH AND DISASTER
Death, killing, serious damage, accidents, harm, disasters, catastrophes, whether intentional or not.
700 ff. SOCIAL EVENTS
Largely public, social events and incidents involving groups.
800 ff. DISCOVERIES, INFORMATION AND CONNECTIONS
Information and connections between individuals, real or false, intentional, forced or accidental; revelations, tests, questions and answers.
900 ff. JUSTICE, RIGHT AND REVENGE
Serving "justice" from the ballad's perspective, be it legal, extralegal, personal, institutional, poetic or divine.
000 ff. METAPHORICAL SONG NARRATIVES
In which the "meaning" of the ballad is understood but not directly stated by the narrative text. The nightingale or other bird in "Nachtigal als Warnerin" preserves its freedom from being dominated or bought. Implied can either be that the girl should preserve her virginity (001: Love Metaphors), or that one should assert one's freedoms in the face of political dominance (003: Political Metaphors). Ofttimes these metaphorical meanings are more implicitly accessible to the bearers of the tradition than to outsiders. A classification strictly according to the text alone would entirely miss the point. The song about the tinker's "fixing" all her "pots" is certainly not just about his repairing kitchenware; and that is the point of the song.
Each of these major categories contains Themes which have been used to classify the ballads in this catalog and are accessible through the pull-down menus. Each of the Themes and their respective subcategories (Narrative Units) are assumed to express the concept of the overarching heading).
Heading 100 (OFFERS, REQUESTS, DEMANDS) and Heading 200 (OBLIGATIONS, COMMITMENTS, EXPECTATIONS) are roughly parallel, the "OFFERS" tend to initiate relationships, while the "OBLIGATIONS" tend to address the expectations attending established relationships (e.g. love/marital, family, economic, etc.). "Deals, wagers, bargains, contracts, indemnity, plans" operate quite differently in a plot if they are being initiated (and can be refused or accepted, Theme 170) — or if such existing "conspiracies, oaths, loans, etc." (270) are being kept or violated.
The ROLES AND RELATIONSHIPS work effectively like the Themes, although in a different "dimension," indexing the actors rather than their actions. They are abstracted from the song texts and reference the functions of the various actors within the cast of characters. A steward acting as a parent will be classified as a parent. An innkeeper acting as a parent functions as "Family," but if he murders his unrecognized son he also functions as a "Wrongdoer," and if the unrecognized son is murdered because he is a guest at the inn, he and his father both act within an "Occupational or Economic Relationship." The ballad of the "Mordeltern" (DBK 04.11g-01a) is classified under all three of these pertinent Role-Relationships: F, O, V.
The Metaphorical Narratives (Themes 001-004) indexes those ballads whose literal plot is only one half of a double entendre, reflecting the fact that sometimes the actions in the narrative refer to something understood rather than referenced directly. The nightingale in "Nachtigal als Warnerin" (DBK 03.B2d-01) preserves its freedom from being dominated or bought. Implied can be that the girl should preserve her virginity (001: Love Metaphors), or that one should assert one's freedoms in the face of political dominance (003: Political Metaphors). Ofttimes these metaphorical meanings are more implicitly accessible to the bearers of the tradition than to outsiders.
A classification strictly according to the text alone would entirely miss the point. The song about the tinker's "fixing" all the cook's and household servants' "pots" (DBK 10.N-15 ) is certainly not just about his repairing kitchenware; and that is the point of the song: sexual prowess and cleverness of metaphor. These metaphorical Themes are essentially redundant since the ballads are classified both by their literal level and their metaphorical ones.
Love and Erotic Metaphors (001) are the most common, followed perhaps by Political Metaphors (003) - both for obvious reasons as well as artistic inventiveness.
In all, there are about 80 Themes ("descriptors" or "tags") which have been used to classify (tag) the ballads in this catalog. The complete list can be viewed in the Thesaurus or through the pull-down menus on the search page. Or consult the Overview for a more general orientation. Occasional gaps in the number labels are the result of on-going revisions.
The classifying Themes have "decimal" subdivisions indicating "Narrative Units" and "Aspects," both descriptive elements to help the user discover pertinent Themes and also to make the Themes more precise by assigning typical plot elements to specific Themes. The indexed Themes are accessible through the drop-down menus, while the optional Narrative Units and the Aspects are retrievable by means of the Advanced Search. If there is no applicable Narrative Unit or Aspect under a particular Theme, then the Theme alone is used to index the song. For example, if a "110: Courtship" is successful ("110.b"), it might not end in a marriage ("110.7"), in which case the song is only indexed under "110.b". In any case the drop down menu choice of "110: courtship" will retrieve the song, irrespective of the presence or absense or choice of any Narrative Unit or Aspect.
A Directory offers yet another method of accessing the Themes in the Thesaurus. This index of the Thesaurus' descriptions, Narrative Units and Aspects provides an alternative capability to search all the terms used in the Thesaurus alphabetically, guiding the user to effective thematic searches.