Man is an animal
by Mark Dingemanse
It is no news that some humans say that man is an animal, especially not this year. But wouldn't it be rather more interesting if another member of the animal kingdom would weigh in on the matter?
It happens in Kawu, where I am right now for fieldwork (hence the silence on this blog). The call of the ìsakpòlò bird, singing in the early morning, perfectly resembles the tonal contour of the following Siwu phrase:
- màturi bra màbɔi
- people make animals
- 'People are just animals'
- Recording of the call:
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- Whistled imitation and pronunciation of the Siwu sentence:
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The first time I became aware of this bird was when one of my assistants said, 'That bird is insulting us.' Next time I'll try to provide a picture of this wonderful bird. Meanwhile, there you go. Man is an animal. You didn't hear this from me. You heard it from the ìsakpòlò bird.
Filed under Fieldwork, Fun, Siwu | Comment (1)One Response to “Man is an animal”
[...] its natural calls. Which the Siwu speaking people find annoying, for obvious reasons. Please visit this multimedia post from The Ideophone to find out what the heck I’m talking about [...]