In tone languages, alteration of lexical tone changes the intended meaning. This implies that composers should equally match lexical tone in their music for intelligible communication of the intended textual messages, a compositional approach termed Lexical Tone Determinants (LTD) in this study. Yet, in the Ìgbò language setting, some composers creatively disregard/mismatch lexical tone, which is branded as Musical/Creative Determinants (M/CD). It is believed that mismatched lexical tone in Ìgbò music alters listeners’ comprehension of the intended messages; on the other hand, it is argued that thorough match of lexical tone constrains musical creativity. Listeners’ perception of textual messages in LTD and M/CD music has not been empirically tested (side-by-side) to verify whether comprehension is lost or not, at least, in the Ìgbò language context. This empirical void gap is verified in this particular study to substantiate the propositions/findings using comparative measures to collect data through listeners’ perception in live-performance of newly composed LTD and M/CD pieces. Specifically, it examines whether mismatched lexical tone in Ìgbò music alters message comprehension or not. The data were collated, presented, and analyzed statistically with chi-square deployed to evaluate their difference in message comprehension.
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April 2022
Research Article|
April 01 2022
Can the Intended Messages of Mismatched Lexical Tone in Igbo Music Be Understood? A Test for Listeners’ Perception of the Matched Versus Mismatched Compositions
Sunday Ofuani
Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria
Sunday Ofuani, Department of Music, Delta State University, Abraka, P.M.B. 1, Abraka, Nigeria. E-mails: ofuani@delsu.edu.ng onelandmuso@gmail.com
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Sunday Ofuani, Department of Music, Delta State University, Abraka, P.M.B. 1, Abraka, Nigeria. E-mails: ofuani@delsu.edu.ng onelandmuso@gmail.com
Music Perception (2022) 39 (4): 371–385.
Article history
Received:
May 03 2020
Accepted:
February 03 2022
Citation
Sunday Ofuani; Can the Intended Messages of Mismatched Lexical Tone in Igbo Music Be Understood? A Test for Listeners’ Perception of the Matched Versus Mismatched Compositions. Music Perception 1 April 2022; 39 (4): 371–385. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2022.39.4.371
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