Coordination between Lexical Tones and Melody in Traditional Kammu Singing

Abstract

The study of the interaction between music and language is a small but rather active branch of musicology and linguistics. The two disciplines seldom meet. In this study we add a linguistic approach to our ethnomusicological knowledge. The cultural setting under study is Kammu, an Austroasiatic language spoken mainly in Laos. Kammu is a tone language where each syllable has a tone, either High or Low. The overarching melodic template is separated from tones to detect if or how lexical tones interact with melody. We study three genres, all performed by the same singer. The degree of preservation of lexical tones is genre dependent. Three main types of genres are found, tone-centered with melodic template built solely on lexical tones, melody- and tone-centered, and melody-centered in which lexical tones adapt to melody.