Re: sometimes behave so strangely

[Cornelia Fales <cfales@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I wondered about this, and I asked a Chinese friend how they reconcile 
> tones and melodies.  She said they basically ignore the tones in song 
> lyrics.  However, I would think that might led to some (perhaps 
> amusing) confusions.  I don't know Chinese, would it be possible to 
> have some lyrics which when put in a particular melody would have a 
> drastically different meaning?
Though ethnomusicologists have long known that in nearly every culture 
that speaks a tonal language there exists at least one major vocal genre 
characterized by a correlation between melodic and the tonal contour of 
the sung text.  In many cultures, all vocal genres show the same 
correlation.  In some African cultures, even nonvocal genres 
occasionally have melodies that reflect a text (usually a well-known 
proverb or other formulaic text) that is absent - this is how talking 
drums work.