Abstract
This paper explores the interdependence between organology and phonology in the Yorubadùndúnandbàtádrums. We analyze how the specific features of these drums, such as corpus shape, size, kind and number of membranes, and playing techniques affect their systems of speech surrogacy. The study relies on field recordings collected by the authors in Lagos, Nigeria, in February 2020, featuring drummed performances of Yoruba sentences previously unknown to the informants. The recorded sentences were transcribed and analyzed comparatively, which allows us to characterize systematic regularities in the speech-to-drum mapping. Observing how the intrinsic characteristics of language sounds (pitch, duration, intensity and spectrum) are addressed by means of the organologic and acoustic properties of thedùndúnand thebàtá, we conclude that these drums’ different properties foster distinct speech surrogacy systems. Alongside a consideration of native perspectives on speech surrogacy, we propose an understanding of drum languages as platforms capable of supporting the development of native theories on sound and language.
Highlights
This paper presents the current state of an ongoing investigation into the speech surrogacy systems of the dùndún and bàtá drums of the Yoruba people in Southwestern Nigeria
By means of a side-by-side comparison of the dùndún and bàtá speech surrogacy systems, we focus on similarities between distinct drum sounds, and the sounds of language
The fact that the ìyáàlù bàtá does not render the language tones through pitch distinctions, but rather through contrasting sound spectra emerging from the different hand playing techniques, leads to further questions regarding the nature of the mapping between drum and language sounds seen here
Summary
This flexible tuning mechanism, combined with the unique fashion in which each of the drums is carried, allows drummers to vary the tension of the membranes continuously by applying more or less pressure to the tuning cords, which affects the drum’s pitch Players use this technique to imitate the three basic Yoruba tones, as well as the tone inflections that occur on rising or falling gliding tones or between syllables of distinct tones. The sounds produced by a dùndún drum can be annotated as sound shapes resulting from a sequential combination of specific movements of both arms, and in direct correlation with the phonemes of the Yoruba language Each of these shapes, as described in the example below, contains precise information on the kind, intensity and speed of the left-arm movements related to the tuning of the membrane, as well as the moment in time in which the opá strokes and arm movements take place. To the rules above, the following situations have proven to appear on a consistent basis:
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