[Lingtyp] word for "pitch" in languages across the world

Adam James Ross Tallman ajrtallman at utexas.edu
Sun Mar 7 19:11:21 UTC 2021


No worries Juergen.  Actually, there might be a covert point in your slide
that I overlooked. It seems that the word  is highly polysemous and context
dependent and all the answers I've gotten so far have multiple meanings.
Maybe there is a Chacobo word for it in the right context after all
(perhaps we need recordings of elders teaching traditional songs to find
the right equivalent rather than just eliciting the notion out of the blue).

best,

Adam

On Sun, Mar 7, 2021 at 7:55 PM Bohnemeyer, Juergen <jb77 at buffalo.edu> wrote:

> Dear Adam — I definitely fall into the category of people you tried to
> discourage from replying :-) I couldn't resist because it just so happens
> that I routinely use *pitch* in my classes to illustrate how lexical
> meanings are built up from intersecting chains of metaphorical and
> metonymic extensions. I’m attaching a screenshot of the slide I use for
> this purpose. Sorry! — Juergen
>
> On Mar 7, 2021, at 1:05 PM, Adam James Ross Tallman <ajrtallman at utexas.edu>
> wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> I'm wondering how many languages across the world have a word for "pitch".
> In a meeting the Chacobo once offered a novel word which roughly translated
> to 'speech's song', joi᷄ quëquëti᷄  but it likely wouldn't be understood
> without explanation(as far as I know!) and it's obviously not lexicalized.
>
> I'm wondering what cultures/languages have lexicalized this notion?
>
> best,
>
> p.s. You probably don't have to respond to this if you are going to tell
> me that some Standard-Average-European language (for example) has a
> lexicalized word for pitch. Unless you can tell me something about how the
> notion may have arisen historically.
>
> Adam
>
> --
> Adam J.R. Tallman
> Post-doctoral Researcher
> Friedrich Schiller Universität
> Department of English Studies
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>
>
> --
> Juergen Bohnemeyer (He/Him)
> Professor, Department of Linguistics
> University at Buffalo
>
> Office: 642 Baldy Hall, UB North Campus
> Mailing address: 609 Baldy Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260
> Phone: (716) 645 0127
> Fax: (716) 645 3825
> Email: jb77 at buffalo.edu <jb77 at buffalo.edu>
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>
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> time. I will in addition hold Tu/Th 4-5pm open specifically for remote
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>
> There’s A Crack In Everything - That’s How The Light Gets In
> (Leonard Cohen)
>


-- 
Adam J.R. Tallman
Post-doctoral Researcher
Friedrich Schiller Universität
Department of English Studies
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