Expressives in Kammu singing
(2025) p.33-50- Abstract
- The Kammu people are mainly rice farmers and live on mountain slopes in northern Laos. The chapter studies the expressives of the Yùan Kammu dialect from the combined perspectives of linguistics and ethnomusicology. Kammu expressives are derived from monosyllabic roots, which each carry the general meaning of those expressives that are derived from that root. The morphological processes involved in the derivation of expressives are reduplication, prefixation, and infixation. The chapter discusses the use of expressives in songs. The expressives, and also other techniques—verb reduplication and the use of simile—are grouped in five categories depending on what they depict: sound, movement, look, touch, and inner feeling. In songs the... (More)
- The Kammu people are mainly rice farmers and live on mountain slopes in northern Laos. The chapter studies the expressives of the Yùan Kammu dialect from the combined perspectives of linguistics and ethnomusicology. Kammu expressives are derived from monosyllabic roots, which each carry the general meaning of those expressives that are derived from that root. The morphological processes involved in the derivation of expressives are reduplication, prefixation, and infixation. The chapter discusses the use of expressives in songs. The expressives, and also other techniques—verb reduplication and the use of simile—are grouped in five categories depending on what they depict: sound, movement, look, touch, and inner feeling. In songs the contextual meanings of the expressives mainly relate to praise (success/wealth and beauty), deprecation (belittling of oneself/respect), and sadness (loneliness/unrecruited love/poverty). (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/0746a52e-588b-41d3-854e-2774ca859940
- author
- Lundström, Håkan LU and Svantesson, Jan-Olof LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Austroasiatic, folk tale, infixation, Mon-Khmer, mono-melodic, prefixation, reduplication, song, simile, words of address
- host publication
- Capturing expressivity : Contexts, methods, and techniques for linguistic research - Contexts, methods, and techniques for linguistic research
- editor
- Williams, Jeffrey P.
- pages
- 33 - 50
- publisher
- Oxford University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105009394341
- ISBN
- 9780191949425
- 9780192858931
- DOI
- 10.1093/oso/9780192858931.003.0003
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0746a52e-588b-41d3-854e-2774ca859940
- date added to LUP
- 2025-12-14 14:31:52
- date last changed
- 2025-12-18 15:01:58
@inbook{0746a52e-588b-41d3-854e-2774ca859940,
abstract = {{The Kammu people are mainly rice farmers and live on mountain slopes in northern Laos. The chapter studies the expressives of the Yùan Kammu dialect from the combined perspectives of linguistics and ethnomusicology. Kammu expressives are derived from monosyllabic roots, which each carry the general meaning of those expressives that are derived from that root. The morphological processes involved in the derivation of expressives are reduplication, prefixation, and infixation. The chapter discusses the use of expressives in songs. The expressives, and also other techniques—verb reduplication and the use of simile—are grouped in five categories depending on what they depict: sound, movement, look, touch, and inner feeling. In songs the contextual meanings of the expressives mainly relate to praise (success/wealth and beauty), deprecation (belittling of oneself/respect), and sadness (loneliness/unrecruited love/poverty).}},
author = {{Lundström, Håkan and Svantesson, Jan-Olof}},
booktitle = {{Capturing expressivity : Contexts, methods, and techniques for linguistic research}},
editor = {{Williams, Jeffrey P.}},
isbn = {{9780191949425}},
keywords = {{Austroasiatic; folk tale; infixation; Mon-Khmer; mono-melodic; prefixation; reduplication; song; simile; words of address}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{33--50}},
publisher = {{Oxford University Press}},
title = {{Expressives in Kammu singing}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192858931.003.0003}},
doi = {{10.1093/oso/9780192858931.003.0003}},
year = {{2025}},
}