Pronounce while singing. A musical analysis of a spoken text (Castelsardo, Sardinia)

Journal/Book: Homme. 1998; Marie Louise Dufour, 131 Boulevard Saint-Michel, 75005 Paris, France. Ecoles Haute Etud Sci Sociales. 87-112.

Abstract: A short, apparently contradictory utterance, drawn from an interview wherein a Sardinian singer freely voiced his feelings about the Castelsardo brotherhood's songs, is analyzed. Textual units were identified on the basis of their acoustic image (intensity, tonal register, timbre, density, envelope and accentual sequences) and then grouped into paradigmatic classes that brought to light unexpected semantic cleavages. By modulating words, the interviewee interpreted a dense, complex sociomusical system. Depending on how he pronounced it, his Belie, for instance, changed meaning; and, because they belong to the same phonic order, his Io (''Me'') and his Dio (''God'') suggested oaths. Beyond such examples, this musicological approach to intonation shows that words bear meanings through their acoustic forms and that their semantic autonomy is constantly subject to the dynamics of speech.

Note: Article LortatJacob B, CNRS, Musee Homme, Dept Mus, Paris, FRANCE

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