In tonal languages, each sentence has a specific melody.
This melody can be reproduced with the help of a slit-drum which makes two sounds: a low sound and a high sound.
The listener can reconstitute the corresponding sentence when hearing the melody.
A slit-drum is a perfect instrument for communication. In general, it is owned by local chieftains
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Word and Sound
BELGIUM
BRUSSELS • The Royal Museum for Central Africa • Ongoing
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Word and Sound documents how languages are described and compared. It talks about culture, writing and development. The African oral literature includes various genres: short stories, tales, riddles, proverbs, sung poetry, heroic stories, genealogies, didactic texts, dilemmas, etc...
By collecting these works the Linguistic Department makes sure they are saved.
By translating them, they are made known not only in Europe but in Africa as well, as the literature expressed in one language is not accessible to neighbouring groups who speak a different language.
This exhibition also presents how the Museum’s archaeologists and linguists carry out a multidisciplinary study of ancient metallurgy of iron.
Archaeologists study the material aspects while the linguists identify the related terminology.
The Royal Museum for Central Africa
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Tel: (32) 02 769 52 11
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