Universität zu Köln

Seifart, Frank ORCID: 0000-0001-9909-2088, Meyer, Julien, Grawunder, Sven and Dentel, Laure (2018). Reducing language to rhythm: Amazonian Bora drummed language exploits speech rhythm for long-distance communication. R. Soc. Open Sci., 5 (4). LONDON: ROYAL SOC. ISSN 2054-5703

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Abstract

Many drum communication systems around the world transmit information by emulating tonal and rhythmic patterns of spoken languages in sequences of drumbeats. Their rhythmic characteristics, in particular, have not been systematically studied so far, although understanding them represents a rare occasion for providing an original insight into the basic units of speech rhythm as selected by natural speech practices directly based on beats. Here, we analyse a corpus of Bora drum communication from the northwest Amazon, which is nowadays endangered with extinction. We show that four rhythmic units are encoded in the length of pauses between beats. We argue that these units correspond to vowel-to-vowel intervals with different numbers of consonants and vowel lengths. By contrast, aligning beats with syllables, mora or only vowel length yields inconsistent results. Moreover, we also show that Bora drummed messages conventionally select rhythmically distinct markers to further distinguish words. The two phonological tones represented in drummed speech encode only few lexical contrasts. Rhythm thus appears to crucially contribute to the intelligibility of drummed Bora. Our study provides novel evidence for the role of rhythmic structures composed of vowel-to-vowel intervals in the complex puzzle concerning the redundancy and distinctiveness of acoustic features embedded in speech.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Seifart, Frank UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-9909-2088 UNSPECIFIED Meyer, Julien UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Grawunder, Sven UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Dentel, Laure UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-190715
DOI:	10.1098/rsos.170354
Journal or Publication Title:	R. Soc. Open Sci.
Volume:	5
Number:	4
Date:	2018
Publisher:	ROYAL SOC
Place of Publication:	LONDON
ISSN:	2054-5703
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language PERCEPTION; DISCRIMINATION; ONSETS Multiple languages Multidisciplinary Sciences Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/19071