slit-log drum

Slit-log drum system among the Lonkundo-speaking Tumba people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, described in Clarke (1934). ‘Lonkundo’ is a variety of Mongo-Nkundu (Eberhard et al. 2020). The drum itself is a hollowed tree trunk segment, “usually between three or four feet in length”, struck rhythmically with a two beaters to produce high and low pitches “about a musical [major] third apart” on each side (419). In the surrogate system, high and low pitches correspond to H and L tones in the language (420). A simultaneous strike of both sides is also attested, though Clarke does not clarify its corresponding linguistic attribute (419). Use is unrestricted among men, though many “have not taken the time to learn”; women are barred from using or even touching the drum, though “[m]ost women understand all that is ‘said’ on the drum” (419). A non-linguistic sequence is struck at the beginning of all messages “to call attention to the drum” (431). Content includes long-distance communication, surrogate-specific “drum names”, calls to battle, assembly or hunting, greetings, warnings, commerce, and announcements of birth, death, illness, or a lost person (420-3); however, “[i]n former times the chief purpose of the drum was to call people together for fighting” (421).

Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2020. "Mongo-Nkundu" Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-third edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.,Clarke, R. Τ. (1934). 20. THE DRUM LANGUAGE OF THE TUMBA PEOPLE. In T. A. Sebeok & J. Umiker-Sebeok, Speech Surrogates: Drum and Whistle Systems. 1976. (pp. 418–433). De Gruyter Mouton. https://www.degruyter.com/view/book/9783110804416/10.1515/9783110804416.418.xml