I've been reading a fascinating book called Don't Sleep There are Snakes by Daniel Everett. It's about a group of people who live in the Amazon jungle called the Piraha. There language is interesting because they speak nearly always in the present. This doesn't mean they don't think about the past or the future, or have memories of dead Pirahas, it just isn't talked about. (Piraha is pronounced: pee-da-han)
For example, if a Piraha is talking to another Piraha about something another Piraha said, both people would have to have known or seen or have talked to that other Piraha. They are the ultimate existentialists. If something wasn't witnessed by someone they had had personal interaction with, it simply could not have happened, because it can not be proven.
Anyway, the music nibble comes in here. The author was colleagues with Peter Ladefoged, a linguist who was also used as a consultant on the set of My Fair Lady. The film version features Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle. I remembered reading somewhere that, for any number of reasons, Hepburn's singing voice was considered insufficient, so she was overdubbed. The singer whose voice was used is Marni Nixon.
It would be interesting to hear the un-overdubbed songs to see whether or not the vocal stand-in was necessary.
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