Re: Musical conlangs (was: Poetique)

Ray Brown scripsit:

> >>13. Finally, at sea, can beat a drum, strike a
> >>bell, blow a whistle, blow
> >>a hunting horn (cor de chasse [on a boat??]),
> >
> >Not ideal, as a cor de chasse does not have easy
> >access to a diatonic scale!
>
> But ain't the French 'cor de chasse' sort of curly
> and rather different from the hunting horn used in
> the anglophone world?
It doesn't matter, since the horn is to be tooted on without regard to
pitch, the same as the drum, bell, whistle, etc.  IOW, this is another
variant of tapping.

> Absolutely - I would think the idea of using cannon
> for communication carries all sorts of risks.
Well, when guns are fired in salute, do they actually put payload
(ball, shot, chain, etc.) in them?  I suspect not.  So the absence
of splashes coming along with the booms would signify an intent
to communicate.

In fact, though, there is a perfectly workable and efficient international
flag code, allowing one to communicate such perfectly useful messages as
"Do you have any women on board?" and "Presence of rats suspected" with
a mere 3-4 flags.

--
Using RELAX NG compact syntax to        John Cowan
develop schemas is one of the simple    http://www.reutershealth.com
pleasures in life....                   http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
        --Jeni Tennison                 <jcowan@...>

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