The Drum Languages of Senegal – a Neurolinguistic Perspective

This project studies the unique connection between music and speech in Senegalese drum languages. By combining methods from experimental linguistics with those from cognitive neuroscience, the use of drum languages will be compared to more ordinary linguistic and musical activities. Brain activity patterns among native Senegalese players will be tested when using drums for linguistic and musical purposes. This will be complemented by behavioral experiments and field work in Senegal, testing the use of drum languages in more naturalistic settings, and studying their linguistic characteristics. The guiding hypothesis is that production and interpretation of Senegalese drum languages are asymmetric: While production of drum languages is hypothesized to involve both linguistic and musical brain faculties, the interpretation of meaningful rhythms is expected to exclusively involve musical faculties.