Friday, December 19, 2008

Of speech and song


Isn't it fascinating that the mere action of stretching out one's words produces the vocal phenomenon that we call singing?

At what point does talk end and song begin?

I learned today that the word "accent" comes from the same Latin root as "to sing." An accent, then, is a different way of speaking but it is also, in a way, a song, a song about your heritage.

6 comments:

Janice Thomson said...

That's a unique way of looking at it and rather nice to think of an accent like a song.

StayAtHomeKat said...

interesting too that those who have difficulty speaking, eg. a stutter, find that singing smoothes the words so that they can come out

Anonymous said...

Seems like change ub inflection is needed to make it singing rather than chanting. Not that I know anything about it, really.

Eastcoastdweller said...

Janice: Yes, I agree with you. Accents, with a few exceptions, are like a song.

Kat: I actually knew a man just like that -- couldn't speak to save his life but when he opened his mouth to sing, it was as clear and smooth and beautiful as a flowing river.

Citizen: That reminds me of the ancient Christian monastic controversy over chanting versus polyphony.

Amar Mandair said...

Smurfs ECD, SMURFS!!!!!!!

Cristina said...

"...the mere action of stretching out one's words produces the vocal phenomenon that we call singing?"

What do you call rap then?

Don't answer that!


Some accents do feel like songs. I think Portuguese (that I used to dislike because of all the soaps) sounds lovely both in speech and song. As a matter of fact, I can't really tell the difference.