The use of the syllable la for singing is a widespread universal human phenomenon
the verdict
REFUTED
the evidence says no
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
1 source for · 1 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Available evidence indicates that while solfège systems incorporate the syllable la, expert commentary notes that its use as a non-lexical singing vocable is not a worldwide phenomenon.
A method of sight singing that uses the syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (or so), la, and si (or ti) to represent the seven principal pitches of the scale, most commonly the major scale. The fixed-do system uses do for C, and the moveable-do system uses do for whatever key the melody uses (thus B is do if the piece is in the key of B). The relative natural minor of a scale may be represented by beginning at la.: #*
# Why is [la] widely used as a substitution for singing? Is it a worldwide phenomenon?
- Tags: phonology, psycholinguistics
- Score: 10
- Views: 458
- Answers: 1
- Asked by: wodemingzi (1,087 rep)
- Asked on: Jun 1, 2018
- Last active: Oct 17, 2025
- License: CC BY-SA 4.0
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## Question
When people sing without knowing or using the text, they often sing as lalalala...
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## Accepted Answer — Score: 4
- By: loudmummer (198 rep)
- Answered on: Jun 5, 2018
I am not sure why la is used widely as a non-lexical vocable (it could be an arbitrary selection that gained popularity), but I can tell you it is not a worldwide phenomenon.
In Indian Classical music, there is a segment called [alap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alap) (or [alapana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alapana)) which is non-rhythmic improvisation done without lyrics. Typically, the singer says _"aaa..."_ as he vocalizes (other vowels are used, albeit very rarely). In other variants such as the [nomtom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomtom) (or [tanam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanam)) use nonsensical syllables such as _nom, tom, na, tana, rana_, and so on.
In fact, there is whole a class of (rhythmic) com