Speech and song have frequently been treated as contrasting categories. We here observe a variety of collective activities in which multiple participants utter the same thing at the same time, a behavior we call joint speech. This simple empirical definition serves to single out practices of ritual, protest, and the enactment of identity that span the range from speech to song and allows consideration of the manner in which such activities serve to ground collectives. We consider how the musical elements in joint speech such as rhythm, melody, and instrumentation are related to the context of occurrence and the purposes of the participants. While music and language have been greatly altered by developments in media technologies—from writing to recordings—joint speech has been, and continues to be, an integral part of practices, both formal and informal, from which communities derive their identity. The absence of joint speech from the scientific treatment of language has made language appear as an abstract intellectual and highly individualized activity. Joint speech may act as a corrective to draw our attention back to the voice in context, and the manner in which collective identities are enacted.

中文翻译：

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言歌之间的疆域

语音和歌曲经常被视为对比类别。我们在这里观察到各种集体活动，其中多个参与者同时说出同一件事，这种行为我们称为联合讲话。这个简单的经验定义可用来区分仪式，抗议和认同的实践，这些实践涉及从言语到歌曲的范围，并允许考虑此类活动为集体服务的方式。我们考虑联合语音中的音乐元素（如节奏，旋律和乐器）如何与发生的上下文和参与者的目的相关。尽管音乐和语言已随着媒体技术的发展而发生了巨大的变化（从写作到录音），但联合讲话已经并且继续成为实践的组成部分，无论是正式的还是非正式的，社区都是从中获得身份的。对语言的科学对待缺乏联合讲话，使得语言似乎是一种抽象的智力活动和高度个性化的活动。联合讲话可以作为一种纠正措施，将我们的注意力吸引回上下文中的声音以及制定集体身份的方式。