Re: "Old Starrish"

On Mon, 10 Feb 2003, Rachel Klippenstein wrote:

> The speakers of this language are essentially human phisically and
> mentally, very similar to us, though it is possible that they all have
> perfect pitch, unlike us.
Since pitch is not a phonemic quality of your language, absolute pitch is
not necessary although it would be a great asset. A race of humanoids with
absolute pitch is certainly a possibility, even though I take the liberty
to doubt your information about the Vietnamese "absolute pitch" report. (I
do not doubt that you read it, but I doubt that it was correctly
reported.) Absolute pitch is not something that can be learned. Some have
it, others do not. So absolute pitch in an entire population would require
mutation and take a very long time.

> I toyed around with the idea of a relative scale, and decided that the
> problem with it would be that different vowel sequences that represented
> the same intervals could then correspond to exactly the same tone
> sequences, if the speakers decided to start them on the same note.
What you would have to do with a relative scale is to somehow establish
the keytone, perhaps in a first vowel that is always the same.

> Maybe you could help me with one thing: I don't know specifically which
> intervals are awkward, and I don't know how one would look it up.
> Also, what is a tritone?  (Oh, probably an interval of three whole
> tones, right?)
Yes, that is correct. The tritone is also known as the diminished fifth,
the augmented fourth or, less formally, as the Devil's interval.

The tritone is the one you will always have to watch out for. The reason
is that the wavelengths of the two tones are in a rather complex
mathematical relation to one another. For some real fun, try to find two
tuning forks that are at tritone interval, strike them and put one against
each ear. (The tritone of a piano does not sound all that bad because the
piano has a rich array of overtones.)

Other intervals to watch out for are intervals close to the octave, in
particular the major seventh. However, if those intervals are inverted
(the major seventh upwards becomes the minor second downwards, for
instance) they are not difficult at all, provided that they stay in key.
(Such inversion does not change the tritone.)

In fact, from a melodic point of view you have made it very difficult for
yourself by choosing the twelve-tone chromatic scale of contemporary
music. That scale has been developed over thousands of years to work well
in a harmonic context, but it is very difficult to form beautiful melodies
from it without knowing a good deal of music theory.

It is much easier to start with a simpler scale, such as a common
seven-tone major scale, which is in fact the foundation on which the
chromatic scale is built. Or perhaps even better, a five-tone pentatonic
scale, which is common in folk music and many non-western cultures. If you
want to know what a pentatonic scale sounds like, find a piano and play
only on the black keys.

It is very difficult to make a completely unmelodic combination in a
pentatonic scale. Take the tritone, for instance. In a chromatic scale
there is one possible tritone for each of the tones, for a total of twelve
"dangerous" intervals. In a seven-tone scale this has been reduced to
three, and in the pentatonic scale there is only one.

You can have a pentatonic scale and still have a large vowel inventory if
you choose to regard the octaves as unique. Then you must only watch out
so that you avoid overuse of intervals larger than the octave (plus the
tritone). In fact, the one tritone of a pentatonic scale could be used for
dramatic effect on rare occasions.

Or why not invent your very own scale, which is not based on the same
mathematical relations as the ones in "normal" music? That would require a
lot of work, but it would be a lot of fun, too. Plus, it would certainly
give your language a VERY alien feel. For inspiration, you may want to
look at the Indonesian slendro scale (about which I unfortunately know
next to nothing).

  /Fredrik

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