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From: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Subject: Re: Swahili
Message-ID: <DxHxsp.A8s@scn.org>
Sender: news@scn.org
Reply-To: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Organization: Seattle Community Network
References: <DxE14G.LHB@scn.org> <32307DB7.69F6@mailbox.swipnet.se>
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 03:02:49 GMT
Lines: 56


Well, my sister who lives and works with the Mazatec has supplied the 
following comments on my reply to Daniel Herlitz's question about communi-
cating using *just* the tones of a tonal language:

Daniel Herlitz:
>>
>>From my native language, Swedish, I'm familiar with the fact that
>>the pitch differences between the syllables in a word (whether the
>>first is lower or higher than the second and so on) can alter its
>>meaning totally, but is it really possible to communicate using
>>JUST the tones?
>>
Me (Leland Bryant Ross):

>Again, my African-language expertise is mostly limited to Swahili, which 
>is not a particularly tonal language as African (perhaps even as human) 
>languages go.  I did learn some Hausa once, and it's a considerably more 
>tonal language than Swahili, but I would be astounded to learn that one 
>could (say) comment intelligibly on the Koran by whistling a Hausa 
>sentence contour.  Some Mexican languages (I think Mazatec is the one 
>usually cited) are said to be "so tonal" that speakers can carry out 
>detailed conversations over long distances by whistling, but personally I 
>doubt if the facts are quite as amazing as the claims.  My sister lives 
>and works among the Mazatec.  I think I'll ask her to comment on this.

Peggy Agee:

Yes, this is true.  Mazatec relies so heavily on the tone of the 
syllables that conversations can be carried on through whistling.  We 
personally have only seen it used in common phrases such as "Where are 
you going?" or "What are you doing?" or "Come here" as a few examples.  
However, in a closely related dialect of Mazatec, linguists working there 
have documented long and detailed conversations carried on entirely by 
whistles.

The whistles carry over longer distances than spoken words, so whistle 
speech is often used in the fields or from one mountain top to another.

For more information on this you can read the article - Mazatec Whistle 
Speech.  Language 24.280-286.  Reprinted in 1964 Languages in culture and 
society, ed. by Dell H. Hymes, 312-329.  New York:  Harper & Row.

Peggy Agee

Thanks, Peggy!  So anyway, anybody *really* know whether similar 
phenomena really occur in *African* tonal languages?

Leland


--
Liland Brajant ROS'                "Sed krom se iuj el la  homoj  malsategas,
P O Box 30091                      kiel do la socio povas posedi strukturon?"
Seattle, WA 98103 Usono            -Gulivero (Ted Danson) en la nova televida
Tel. (206) 633-2434                 versio,  citita  en  "Baptist Peacemaker"
