Music related to Linguistics & Lx-Anthro?

[Bambi Schieffelin]

Benny Lava (etc) are excellent examples of soramimi, a verbal play tradition found in many languages, and frequently exploited in lyrics, perfect for music videos. Check out Youtube for soramimi - and mondegreens for "same language" play - (Wikipedia has a good piece about them).

bambi

----- Original Message -----
From: Alexandre Enkerli <enkerli at gmail.com>
Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010 8:41 am
Subject: Re: [LINGANTH] Music related to Linguistics & Lx-Anthro?
To: LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG

> Reminds me of Kalluri Vaanlil aka "Benny Lava" or the "Crazy Indian video,
> Buffalaxed":
> http://descriptively.blogspot.com/2007/10/benny-lava-revisited.html
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA1NoOOoaNw
> The "buffalaxed" version includes a few vulgar words, but there's a fair
> deal to be done with that impressionistic transcription.
> 
> --
> Alexandre
> http://enkerli.com
> 
> Le 2010-02-06 à 18:18, Marco Jacquemet <mjacquemet at usfca.edu> a écrit 
> :
> 
> http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2073
> 
> On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 8:46 PM, Alexandre Enkerli <enkerli at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> > If you do sound symbolism, this one may be interesting:
> > Daniela Mercury "Groove Da Baiana" from /Sol Da Liberade/.
> > http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/groove-da-baiana/id311571977?i=311571998
> >
> > Disclaimer, I don't understand a word of Brazilan Portuguese. But, 
> when it
> > came up in my playlist, it made me think of sound symbolism and I think
> > there might be both onomatopoeia and broader forms of sound 
> symbolism in
> > there.
> > And it's definitely upbeat.
> >
> > The only transcriptions I can find for those lyrics are on annoying 
> sites
> > with popups and such. So I won't post a link.
> > From what little I can get, the song does talk about music (what some
> > ethnomusicologists tend to label "metalinguistic," though it's more
> > metamusical than anything). Actually, it seems to be about learning 
> the
> > musical genre, with relationships to either Creole language or culture.
> > There are other cultural references including food and beverages.
> > What sounded like bell onomatopoeia is apparently a version of "tem" 
> which,
> > if I understand correctly, is a form of the auxiliary verb "to have."
> > Funnily enough, the part which seemed most "sound symbolic," to me, 
> looks
> > like the French term «prêt-à-porter» but pronounced in a rather specific
> > way. Loanwords, ideophones, and sound symbolism do tend to share certain
> > characteristics, right?
> >
> > Anyhoo... Not sure it's that useful but, if I were a student in Richard's
> > class and if sound symbolism were a topic in that class, I'd give 
> this one
> > as an example and get in touch with a native speaker of Brazilian
> > Portuguese.
> >
> > Just sayin'.
> >
> > --
> > Alexandre
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 4, 2010 at 09:54, Richard J Senghas
> > <Richard.Senghas at sonoma.edu>wrote:
> >
> > > Hey Folks,
> > >
> > > Well, this sure turned out to be a rich vein!
> > >
> > > Thanks for all the suggestions.  I see I've got myself a more complex
> > > compilation task than I expected, but here's what I plan to do.  First,
> > I'll
> > > browse through the suggestions for my initial primary intention: finding
> > > upbeat music related to anthro-lx that can help energize the students
> > just
> > > before class starts.  Once I've done that, I'll then turn to categorizing
> > > the various suggestions for how they might be used in class to address
> > > various specific topics or themes.
> > >
> > > I'll probably post these in fits and starts as I work through 
> them.  (In
> > > the meantime, the messages themselves can serve as a temporary 
> archive we
> > > can consult.)
> > >
> > > Thanks all, and do keep them coming!
> > >
> > > -RJS
> > > ======================================================================
> > > Richard J. Senghas, Professor            | Sonoma State University
> > > Anthropology                             | 1801 East Cotati Avenue
> > > Human Development Program                | Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609
> > > Richard.Senghas[at]sonoma.edu            | 707-664-3920 (fax)
> > >
> >
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Marco Jacquemet
> Communication Studies
> University of San Francisco
> tel: 415-422-5543
> fax: 415-422-5680
> mjacquemet at usfca.edu