Barry,

Whall does not claim the yelp to be only under the ownership of Black shnatymen

Yes, which is why I was unclear of the nature of Lighter's implying that Hugill was a relatively rare case of a White chanteyman to sing so.   Thanks for the other reference.

Lighter,

I'm not persuaded by Whall's reference to English ballad singers.
I wonder why you think he would make such a statement then. If anything, perhaps due to his prejudice, I'd think he would want to distance White singers from a "negro" practice.

I've never heard a field recording of an English traditional using anything like the exclamatory yelps, particularly at the beginning of a line, that Hugill makes on his recordings.

However, a kind of brief falsetto glide (can't remember the tech term for this) at the *end* of some lines ceratinly does exist, esp. in the Southern United States. Without further evidence, it may be safer to assume that this is what Whall had in mind.

This is a good point. These vocal ornaments seem to be only vaguely defined. Perhaps a really close reading of all the references would sort it out a bit, but I am hardly clear on exactly what they're supposed to mean. I think I'm set on what 'hitch' is meant to describe (or, at least a meaning has ossified in my mind). When you say "falsetto glide," I imagine you're talking about the same. To get on the same page -- I mean the ornament at the end of each first phrase in "Way Stormalong John" (Ironically, someone just posted a comment about "hitches and and yelps" on this vid.)

This is, minimally, what I thought Whall had in mind.

I think it is a mistake to *assume* as historical fact, that *most* shantymen used as much ornamentation as did Stan Hugill.

I agree.   By the same token, those singers on the Carpenter recordings represent men of a certain background at a certain historical moment, so nor will I assume that they are representative of the wide world of chantey singing -- the reason for my skepticism again being the unlikelihood that White singers didn't ornament their music then until suddenly now...they do!

I'll admit defeat in ever being able to say what parts of American vernacular singing come from "White", "Black" or "other" origins. However, I'd conjecture that by within the 19th century, the admixture had already taken place.