Introduction – Tones and Songs

How do people who speak a tonal language understand the songs that are sung in that language? Pitch and contour are often the key features, perhaps the only features that distinguish tones in a language, yet pitch and contour are key features of music as well, where their interplay is known to musicians and musicologists as melody. Herzog (1934) even used the term ‘speech-melody’ to describe what linguists call tones, but in this article we will reserve the term ‘melody’ for the underlying musical interplay of pitch and contour in songs (and the term ‘melodic note’ for the musical pitch of a particular item), and keep the term ‘tone’ for the linguistic interplay.

In those languages where tones need to be correctly expressed in order to understand speech, what happens when people sing? How do the melody of a song and the pitch and contour of the tones interrelate?

In this study, we are going to look at two styles of traditional Tai Phake songs; in both of which understanding the words are of crucial importance. This may be a concept not easily understood by Western readers; as Mark and Li (1966) commented “Western concert halls contain many people who do not understand a single word of some texts being sung’.

I want to emphasise this point by the following illustration.

Introduction

Manipuri or Meiteilon, the language of the Meiteis, is spoken in Manipur, a state situated in North East India. According to Grierson (1904), it is a Tibeto-Burman language of the Kuki-Chin sub-family. However, according to the classification made by Burling (2003), Manipuri is best treated as a separate entity rather than as a subfamily of the Naga-Kuki group. It is the official language of the state alongside English. As Manipur is also the home of many other hill tribes namely, Nagas and Kukis, Meiteilon serves as a lingua franca among the speakers of 29 dialects of the state.

Prior to the explanation of universal quantifiers in Manipuri, we look at the difference between distributivity and collectivity. There are two accounts of plural denotation, they are distibutivity and collectivity. Distributivity indicates reference to each individual member of a set (Mathews, 1997). We can say that a term A (plural term) is distributive only if A is true of some things and if it is true of each of them separately. If we say a term A denotes several things, it is equivalent to saying that it denotes each of them separately. We can say that an expression has collectivity denotation when the plural term A denotes several things jointly without denoting any of them separately. Term A is collective if it is not distributive.

Body language is a behavioral complement to spoken language and is an important part of communication. It is communication beyond words, a silent language that adds cues to vocal language and is particularly important for face-to-face interaction.

Much of the body language of Chinese speakers is the same as, or similar to, that of English speakers, but there is some which is different or even significantly different. On the other hand, not all the Chinese body language described here is shared by all Chinese.

Here are some examples of typical Chinese body language:

Appearance: Chinese usually stand and sit with a slight modest bend. A person with very straight body and lifted head is considered to be too proud. Long hair and beards are generally worn only by old men or artists. It is rare to see married men and women wearing wedding rings. Most people will dress according to the occasion, but they will seem more casual to the Western eye. Normally people do not wear clothing that stands out too much in design or color. It is not considered modest for older women to wear bright colors.

Applause: to praise, encourage, or welcome.

Cough: to catch people's attention or announce one's presence.

Covering the mouth: This is sometimes done by women and children when they feel embarrassed or shy.

Distance: Personal space is limited, so when conversing standing up, the distance between speakers will be closer than normal for North Americans; standing too close or too far can lead to misunderstandings.

Introduction

It has been several centuries since non-native speakers around the world first began systematically learning the Chinese language. In imperial China, the Jesuit order published Chinese language textbooks for use by their missionaries. Chinese has been widely taught in universities and colleges in the West for many decades now, and the demand for Chinese language instruction has been increasing steadily, to the point where it is now taught in many secondary and even primary schools in Europe and North America. If grammar is considered in the narrower sense of rules for the expression of differences in case, number, person, tense, and voice, then Chinese is said by some to have little or very simplistic grammar. As a result, learning Chinese often has been believed to be a tedious exercise in rote memorization of words and expressions. However, as a human language, Chinese definitely has a well-ordered structure and organization, and therefore has a grammar.

From the learner–user's point of view, Chinese grammar also needs systematic treatment, so that learning can become a more logical and orderly process. Once basic grammar has been mastered in a number of conventional contexts, one must proceed to develop command of a more extensive vocabulary in a variety of different situations and contexts in order to truly master it. It is the intention of Using Chinese to address these and a variety of other issues, with a view towards making the learning of Chinese a more sensible and pleasant experience.

Much research in grammatical theory has shown that syntax plays an important role (together with semantics and pragmatics) in governing the possible referential meanings of nominal expressions. Three factors enter into the proper characterization of the syntax of anaphora: (a) the nature of the nominal expression in question (whether it needs a linguistic antecedent or not); (b) the structural relation between the expression and its antecedent if it has one; and (c) the nature of the antecedent itself.

In the generative literature, a distinction is made between three NP-types on the basis of their ability or inability to directly refer: anaphors, pronouns, and R-expressions. In Chinese, reflexive expressions like ziji ‘self’ and combinations of pronouns + ziji like taziji ‘himself,’ nimenziji ‘yourselves,’ etc. are anaphors since they are incapable of directly denoting entities in the outside world, but must each rely on a linguistic antecedent for their reference to be established. Personal pronouns like ta ‘he/she’ or tamen ‘they’ may be deictic (used without antecedents) or anaphoric (requiring antecedents). Other noun phrases (Zhangsan, zhe-ge xiaohai ‘this child,’ etc.) are R(eferential)-expressions, which do not require an antecedent for their reference to be established.

The possibility and location of an antecedent for a given expression is governed by structural principles, most prominently represented by the principles of Binding Theory in Chomsky (1981) and its subsequent developments.