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Glite Dictionary
fal la

fal la

9.9
A short part of a song made of nonsense syllables sung between lines
  • noun
  • /fɑːl lɑː/
translation icon : fal la
  • The choir sang a cheerful tune with a recurring fal la in the chorus.

Examples

  • Many Renaissance songs feature a playful fal la between verses.

  • The children giggled as they improvised a fal la during their music class.

  • The choir sang a lively fal la during the performance.

  • In the song, they repeated the fal la refrain.

  • Many Renaissance songs feature a playful fal la between verses.

  • The choir sang a cheerful tune with a recurring fal la in the chorus.

  • The children giggled as they improvised a fal la during their music class.

Synonyms

fa la
vsfal la
3 9.9

A short series of simple syllables sung as a refrain

is the same meaning but spelled as a different syllable grouping
tra-la-la
vsfal la
  • Informal
9.9

Small nonsense sounds people sing or hum instead of words

is focused on partsong refrains in traditional music rather than general mimicry
tra-la
vsfal la
  • Informal
9.9

A short cheerful sound that uses silly syllables

is more tied to formal partsong refrains in traditional music

Surface Forms

fal la singular
fal las plural

Morphology

fal + la

The string is made of non-lexical vocables: 'fal' has no dictionary meaning and 'la' is known as a solfège syllable, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituents would not fully derive the conventional meaning 'a sequence of meaningless syllables used as a refrain'. However, similar refrain vocables (e.g. 'fa la la') are cross-linguistically common in songs, so learners may partly infer it as a musical nonsense refrain.

Etymology

Fal la comes from singers using simple syllables like fal and la as a short repeated part in songs. Because singers used these playful 'nonsense' sounds to fill the tune and join voices, fal la now means a cheerful line of meaningless syllables used as a 'refrain'.