Musical theory helps to understand what ‘mamanhês’ is – 06/30/2023 – Darwin and God

As I mentioned in an article published recently in this Sheet, female dolphins with calves also seem to use a form of “mommyse”, an informal term used to designate the peculiar way we use — us and them — to make sounds directed at babies/calfs. An extremely cute detail that didn’t fit in the original text has to do with music theory, oddly enough: the differences in “contour” between the “normal” vocalizations and the “mamanhês” of cetacean females also have to do with that. This is what I explain now.

The so-called “contour” is nothing more than the type of variation between low and high notes in a melody over time. Well, it turns out that one of the characteristics of the Mamanhese is precisely a more elastic, broader “contour”, although there is a predominance of high “notes” in the vocalization.

You know what that reminds me of? Dory the fish from “Finding Nemo” trying to speak Whale. Or, if you think about it, any human mother playing with her baby. Very cute.

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