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somegirl (f)
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Ulli Beier writes about Yoruba poetry that it does not have metre since there is “no important difference in the length of vowels nor a marked difference in between stressed and unstressed syllables”. He directs us to the second Odu Journal in which E. L. Lasebikan argues that tone imposes a pattern on Yoruba poetry, e.g. alternating lines ending on the same tone. However, there are only few cases in which such a regular pattern is present. Common techniques used in Yoruba poetry are: metaphors, similes, onomatopoeia, repetition, alliteration, humour, irony, pathos and bathos (but not rhyme). It can be played on the drum using the three tones of the language: low (do), mid (re) and high (mi). It is more intelligible to a native speaker than utterances pronounced with a wrong pitch pattern.
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