There is more than one way of listening to the words of a song, the most obvious way is to listen to the meaning of the lyrics, then.. there is another way listening to words as part of an instrunental performance, examples, mouth music diddling opera[if in a language that the listener does not understand.
I often listen to gaelic traditional vocal music and only understand a few words, but am listening to the beauty of the voice as an instrument.
"since I'm already on here, I'd like to express an opinion about what I'd call florid or twirly-wirly singing which -- IMHO -- says more about vocal gymnastics than communication. (It can be very impressive, but I have to wonder whether it actually engages a listener in the sense that there is a shared message.)"quote.
Ann, it does communicate, it communicates a sound that is pleasant musically.
However in Daoris case, I did understand the words.
to suggest that traditional singers should not use decoration isin my opinion a rather narrow approach.
Steve said sing one note per syllable, again a narrow blinkered approach, every song should be considered differently, some songs such as Cadgwith anthem DO NOT HAVE A CLEAR STORY, SOME SONGS LEND THEM SELVES TO DECORATION SOME.. MAYBE NOT.
Variety, Contrast, expression, musicality, pleasant instrumental vocal sound all are important.