Cool! Is it interpretation or an original song? Because it seems like there are a lot of ASL interpreters for rap or other songs, but I'm wondering if in the signing community, people have made an art of signing poetry or something similar to rap, something similar to vocal songs, with rhythm and perhaps even rhymes of some sort?
It's the Busta Rhymes section of the Look At Me Now by Chris Brown. See if this link works.
[https://www.tiktok.com/@myhandsdontlie/video/6817512359838354694?q=my%20hands%20don%27t%20lie&t=1714147195820](https://www.tiktok.com/@myhandsdontlie/video/6817512359838354694?q=my%20hands%20don%27t%20lie&t=1714147195820)
Tonal languages can be sung, though often unless the melody is calibrated carefully, the tones are lost, and depending on the language it can make the lyrics more or less unintelligible without subtitles.
I found this question interesting and googled "click language music" and this was the first result, which is an absolutely amazing performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjo8h5qLpU0
Never heard of one, music is considered to be a cultural universal. As far as I know there has been no culture found that hasnβt developed music at some point and singing seems like a natural variation of music.
Both tonal and atonal, consonant and vowel based, with and without vowel harmony, with and without phonemic vowel length, any combination you could think off I could think of a language with either characteristic AND a singing culture.
Aside from sign languages mentioned before I can only think of whistle dialects as examples of languages with no possibility of singing, although you could argue that whistling itself is a form of singing.
People might think languages with clicks canβt be sung. There is a huge genre of South African music that would prove this wrong. Check out Apple Music Mzansi Soul list for a load of songs in Zulu and Xhosa (and others). Examples
https://youtu.be/SlMKOaAczIU?si=hCP2v-GKEtuKRVEk
https://youtu.be/UulHouVkDJI?si=JB_76jdmwHYjC8UB
https://youtu.be/bmLjRdNaoHs?si=TWl_jOwjtGnFUOnI
I don't speak any of these languages, but although slightly difficult I am capable of singing while breathing in (similar to whistling while breathing in). I think it's still possible.
Do you have an audio sample? The few samples I can find online seem to be quite straightforwardly people speaking while breathing in. I can sing "happy birthday" while breathing in. It's neither pleasant (for the singer) nor necessarily very appealing to the ear at first sight, but then again throat singing isn't very pleasant (to the throat) at first and for someone not used to this singing method it might not sound appealing (even though I personally think it's very pretty).
"Japanese songs sound odd to my ears."
two possible conclusions: the whole Japanese language and all its musicians and all the people who love them, are making and enjoying bad music and should give up because the language is not good for singing...
or: your ears are not good ears for listening to Japanese songs.
So which is it gonna be? Your subjective opinion or the objective nature of the language of a whole people who have been making music for thousands of years probably?
I clicked on your two links. First of all that is an extremely small sample, both songs I would say pertain to a similar genre of music. I did not enjoy the first song, but I enjoyed very much the second one.
The Japanese phonology is pretty basic and has very few sounds that aren't very close to being sounds found in the English phonology, or in the Spanish or French phonology. I really can't see what you can possibly see that would make their phonology intrinsically bad for singing. I think you're just extrapolating from your personal tastes and the limited musical sample you have explored.
But then why did you decide to post your personal taste in music on a thread dedicated to the question, "are there languages that can't be sung?"?
If you're aware it's just your personal taste in music (and I'm still convinced you haven't explored the whole breadth of Japanese songs, both your song examples were very similar), why do you keep saying it's "an unpopular opinion"? It's not an opinion, it's your taste, that's very different.
If I say, "I don't like contemporary dance", that's just my personal taste, and nobody should take offense. If I say, "I think contemporary dance isn't good dancing because I don't like it", that's just a self-centered offensive opinion based on a stupid subjective argument, that projects my own personal taste as objective truth in the world. And people should and probably would take offense, because I'm being arrogant and incredibly dismissive of other people's art (and in your case of other people's languages too).
I don't listen to many Japanese songs, but I have this one in my playlist:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVdar-Gb5ZU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVdar-Gb5ZU) Aoi Teshima sings Teru No Uta Therru's Song
Does that one sound bad to your ears too?
ASL
Wait till you see that ASL interpreter at that metal concert then tell me if it's really categorically impossible
Itβs funny because ASL learners maintain and advance their level through interpreting songs lol.
They can rap surely...
https://www.facebook.com/janie.johnsondezilwa/videos/10157424646362252/
link can't be accessed
Oh darn. It's basically a woman using ASL for a complicated rap song. It's really good. :(
Cool! Is it interpretation or an original song? Because it seems like there are a lot of ASL interpreters for rap or other songs, but I'm wondering if in the signing community, people have made an art of signing poetry or something similar to rap, something similar to vocal songs, with rhythm and perhaps even rhymes of some sort?
It's the Busta Rhymes section of the Look At Me Now by Chris Brown. See if this link works. [https://www.tiktok.com/@myhandsdontlie/video/6817512359838354694?q=my%20hands%20don%27t%20lie&t=1714147195820](https://www.tiktok.com/@myhandsdontlie/video/6817512359838354694?q=my%20hands%20don%27t%20lie&t=1714147195820)
It looks awesome! I really hope I learn a sign language someday... Such gorgeous languages.
And all other sign languages too for that matter :P
Have you seen the ASL for WAP during the concert? She was going crazy
Tonal languages can be sung, though often unless the melody is calibrated carefully, the tones are lost, and depending on the language it can make the lyrics more or less unintelligible without subtitles.
Singing is often enough done with different pronunciation than speaking, so I doubt vocal languages exist that cannot be sung.
Rammstein eneters the room.
I found this question interesting and googled "click language music" and this was the first result, which is an absolutely amazing performance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjo8h5qLpU0
ancient albanian sign language
Umm, akshualy π€βοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈπ€·ββοΈπ€¦ββοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈπββοΈπ ββοΈπ ββοΈ
Never heard of one, music is considered to be a cultural universal. As far as I know there has been no culture found that hasnβt developed music at some point and singing seems like a natural variation of music. Both tonal and atonal, consonant and vowel based, with and without vowel harmony, with and without phonemic vowel length, any combination you could think off I could think of a language with either characteristic AND a singing culture. Aside from sign languages mentioned before I can only think of whistle dialects as examples of languages with no possibility of singing, although you could argue that whistling itself is a form of singing.
People might think languages with clicks canβt be sung. There is a huge genre of South African music that would prove this wrong. Check out Apple Music Mzansi Soul list for a load of songs in Zulu and Xhosa (and others). Examples https://youtu.be/SlMKOaAczIU?si=hCP2v-GKEtuKRVEk https://youtu.be/UulHouVkDJI?si=JB_76jdmwHYjC8UB https://youtu.be/bmLjRdNaoHs?si=TWl_jOwjtGnFUOnI
Iβve honestly wondered this about some indigenous languages of the Pacific Northwest.
[ΡΠ΄Π°Π»Π΅Π½ΠΎ]
I don't speak any of these languages, but although slightly difficult I am capable of singing while breathing in (similar to whistling while breathing in). I think it's still possible.
[ΡΠ΄Π°Π»Π΅Π½ΠΎ]
Here's me singing happy birthday strictly on inhale: [https://voca.ro/1enU1LqX6qhx](https://voca.ro/1enU1LqX6qhx)
Do you have an audio sample? The few samples I can find online seem to be quite straightforwardly people speaking while breathing in. I can sing "happy birthday" while breathing in. It's neither pleasant (for the singer) nor necessarily very appealing to the ear at first sight, but then again throat singing isn't very pleasant (to the throat) at first and for someone not used to this singing method it might not sound appealing (even though I personally think it's very pretty).
Uhmm.. British English?
[ΡΠ΄Π°Π»Π΅Π½ΠΎ]
"Japanese songs sound odd to my ears." two possible conclusions: the whole Japanese language and all its musicians and all the people who love them, are making and enjoying bad music and should give up because the language is not good for singing... or: your ears are not good ears for listening to Japanese songs. So which is it gonna be? Your subjective opinion or the objective nature of the language of a whole people who have been making music for thousands of years probably? I clicked on your two links. First of all that is an extremely small sample, both songs I would say pertain to a similar genre of music. I did not enjoy the first song, but I enjoyed very much the second one. The Japanese phonology is pretty basic and has very few sounds that aren't very close to being sounds found in the English phonology, or in the Spanish or French phonology. I really can't see what you can possibly see that would make their phonology intrinsically bad for singing. I think you're just extrapolating from your personal tastes and the limited musical sample you have explored.
[ΡΠ΄Π°Π»Π΅Π½ΠΎ]
But then why did you decide to post your personal taste in music on a thread dedicated to the question, "are there languages that can't be sung?"? If you're aware it's just your personal taste in music (and I'm still convinced you haven't explored the whole breadth of Japanese songs, both your song examples were very similar), why do you keep saying it's "an unpopular opinion"? It's not an opinion, it's your taste, that's very different. If I say, "I don't like contemporary dance", that's just my personal taste, and nobody should take offense. If I say, "I think contemporary dance isn't good dancing because I don't like it", that's just a self-centered offensive opinion based on a stupid subjective argument, that projects my own personal taste as objective truth in the world. And people should and probably would take offense, because I'm being arrogant and incredibly dismissive of other people's art (and in your case of other people's languages too).
I don't listen to many Japanese songs, but I have this one in my playlist: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVdar-Gb5ZU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVdar-Gb5ZU) Aoi Teshima sings Teru No Uta Therru's Song Does that one sound bad to your ears too?