Songs in African Tonal Languages: Contrasting the Tonal System and the Melody
Over the past fifty years there has been a dramatic increase in studies investigating the rules of tone-tune correspondence in vocal music performed in tonal languages. In this paper we argue that considering structural properties of tonal systems is important for studying the interaction between tone and melody. Using songs in Guinean Kpelle and Guro as test cases, we prove that contour tones are less preserved in melody than level tones, and surface tones are reflected in melody rather than underlying tones. We also show that syllable structure as well as style, genre and structure of songs affect tone-tune correspondence.
Artistic adaptation of Seenku tone: Musical surrogates vs. vocal music
The tonal nature of many African languages has long raised questions about musical expression and the relationship between language and music. The two main areas of inquiry have been the relationship between tone and melody in vocal music (tonal textsetting) and the role of tone in musical surrogate languages (e.g. talking drums). However, the degree of similarity between these two genres in terms of tonal adaptation has remained an open question. In this paper, we present a case study comparing the role of tone in two musical traditions from the Sambla ethnic group of Burkina Faso: vocal music and a balafon (xylophone) surrogate language. We show that the two have different systems of tone-note correspondence and level of phonological encoding, indicating that musical adaptation of tone is not monolithic. We suggest that these different systems of tonal adaptation may stem from functional, structural, and cultural differences between the two musical genres.
How Can the Lyrics of a Song in a Tone Language Be Understood?
In a tone language, pitch variations are used to contrast word meaning. For example, the Cantonese syllable /si/ means "teacher" when spoken in a high pitch and "yes" when spoken in a low pitch. How is fundamental frequency (Fo) used to signal lexical tones that occur in songs? In an examination of Cantonese songs, it was found that songwriters abandon the ratio scale of Fo differences that is applied to lexical tones in carefully read speech and instead use an ordinal scale. For example, a high tone that is normally 12% higher than a mid-tone in speech can be realised as any higher Fo (but never a lower Fo) in songs. A perceptual experiment showed that native Cantonese-speaking listeners similarly apply an ordinal Fo scale to arrive at the lexical meaning of the lyric. This ratio-to-ordinal mapping in Cantonese songs ensures the musicality of the melody while preserving adequate identifiability of lexical tones in the lyric.