Hawaiian folk music includes several varieties of chanting ("mele") and music meant for highly ritualized dance ("hula"). Traditional Hawaiian music and dance was functional, used to express praise, communicate genealogy and mythology, and accompany games, festivals and other secular events. The Hawaiian language has no word that translates precisely as "music", but a diverse vocabulary exists to describe rhythms, instruments, styles and elements of voice production. Hawaiian folk music is simple in melody and rhythm, but is "complex and rich" in the "poetry, accompanying mimetic dance ("hula"), and subtleties of vocal styles... even in the attenuated forms in which they survive today".