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

[Alex Francois]

hi Adam,

In Mwotlap (Oceanic, Vanuatu; non-tonal), the word for "pitch" or "melody"
is a noun *tiltil*.

This is initially a spatial metaphor:  the verb *til*
<https://marama.huma-num.fr/Lex/Mwotlap/t.htm#%E2%93%94til%E2%93%971> (whence
*tiltil *is derived by nominalization) has a polysemy
“be anchored (at sea);  be located somewhere;  orientate oneself in space”
— plus, a figurative use when referring to one's voice:
“orientate (o.'s voice) up or down”

The derivative noun *tiltil* thus has two meanings:  (1) directional
system;  (2) pitch, melody.
>> see the entry *tiltil*
<https://marama.huma-num.fr/Lex/Mwotlap/t.htm#%E2%93%94tiltil> in my online
Mwotlap dictionary:
 [image: image.png]
<https://marama.huma-num.fr/Lex/Mwotlap/t.htm#%E2%93%94tiltil>
best
Alex
------------------------------

Alex François

LaTTiCe <http://www.lattice.cnrs.fr/en/alexandre-francois/> — CNRS–
<http://www.cnrs.fr/index.html>ENS
<https://www.ens.fr/laboratoire/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-et-cognition-umr-8094>
–Sorbonne nouvelle
<http://www.univ-paris3.fr/lattice-langues-textes-traitements-informatiques-cognition-umr-8094-3458.kjsp>
Australian National University
<https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/francois-a>Academia Europaea
<https://www.ae-info.org/ae/Member/François_Alexandre> – Academia.edu
<https://cnrs.academia.edu/AlexFran%C3%A7ois>
Personal homepage <http://alex.francois.online.fr/>
------------------------------


On Sun, 7 Mar 2021 at 20:12, Adam James Ross Tallman <ajrtallman at utexas.edu>
wrote:

>
> 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>
>> Web: http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~jb77/
>>
>> Office hours will be held by Zoom. Email me to schedule a call at any
>> time. I will in addition hold Tu/Th 4-5pm open specifically for remote
>> office hours.
>>
>> 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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