Re: Some ideas for a completely tonal conlang

 --- Fredrik Ekman skrzypszy:

> The recent brief discussion about "Old Starrish" gave me inspiration to
> spin off in a tangential direction and make some reflections about a
> conlang where absolute pitch would be phonemic. Here is a summary of my
> thoughts.
Very interesting idea. Just a few remarks:

> There are basically three kinds of sounds: Tones, trills and glides. A
> tone is just that. A trill is a quick succession of two tones, usually no
> more than a major third apart and each repeated about 3-8 times. A glide
> is a gradual shift from one tone to another, usually about a fourth or a
> fifth apart. Silence is also phonemic.
Well, the most obvious question here: does this language use some kind of
scales (like our twelve chromatic tones, or perhaps 31 or 54 or 1200...)? The
presence of glides indicates that the continuum between the "notes" is
exploited at least to a certain degree.

You might consider the possibility to give these aliens not only one culture,
but a huge amount of cultures and languages, were different scales are used. An
exciting idea, if I may say so.

> The complete phonological inventory (roughly comparable with a musical
> scale) is not decided but probably stays within about one and a half
> octave. Two immediately successive tones are never the same, yet are
> rarely more than a fifth apart.
Why not? If the speakers of this language were provided with such a vocal
mechanism from their very birth, they should be able to achieve some virtuosity
in it as they grow up.

> Tritones are allowed (remember that is is
> a tonal language, not a musical language).
I hope you are not implying that there is anything un-musical in the tritonus.
Personally, I find it one of the most fascinating combinations... Don't forget
that the name "diabolus in musica" was invented centuries ago, and that music
has developed into a different direction since.

> The language is almost entirely isolating with only a few simple
> inflections.
Seems like a logical choice to me.

> That is all I have done so far. Maybe there will never be any more than
> that.
Oh, I would feel sorry if that were that case. I find your idea very
interesting!

> I guess someone must have tried something similar before. If so, what
> similarities and differences resulted?
Of course! The most famous musical language is undoubtedly Solresol, devised
somewhere half-way 19th century. I don't know much about it, so the best thing
you can do is googling for it. All I can tell you off-hand is that it uses a
diatonic scale, and I think it was designed for auxlang purposes.

Jan

=====
"Originality is the art of concealing your source." - Franklin P. Jones

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