In this paper I attempt to show how a particular sociolinguistic method applied to ethnographic research can be valuable to the fieldworker and scholar alike. It aids the fieldworker to see the interpersonal systematics at work within a culture. It aids the scholar by giving ethnography a single, uniform method of analysis that can easily be used in cross-cultural comparisons. It also aids both to see the functions of ceremony not only from the outsider's perspective, but also from the insider's point of view. In the sections that follow, I will introduce the reader to the Western Mono, review other descriptions of the ceremony among both the Mono and surrounding tribes, describe the contemporary version of the ceremony which I experienced, and then apply a sociolinguistic method to the event for both description and analysis.

Although Native American communities may lose their ancestral language or other aspects of their traditional culture, music seems to be more resistant to the continual onslaught of the dominant Euro-American culture. Even today, traditional music remains a vital part of Native American communities throughout the United States. In this article I examine one aspect of the musical traditions of the Western Mono, specifically the different types of songs, and their functions within Western Mono society. First, I give a short synopsis of aboriginal Mono culture and society. Next, I discuss what little data have been published dealing with Mono music in the ethnographic literature. And finally, I present the data that I have collected.