Re: Proboscidean phonology

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 13:11:17 -0000, caeruleancentaur
<caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:

>Geoff Horswood <geoffhorswood@H...> wrote:
>
>>... a little proportionally longer than those of an Indian Elephant,
>>but not so much so that they become more like tentacles.
>
>I get the impression that you believe Indian elephants have more than
>one finger on the trunk.  I would have written "...longer than that
>of an Indian elephant" or "longer than those of Indian elephants."
>It is the African elephant that has two opposing fingers on the trunk.
>
Yes, I looked it up after I wrote the message and was surprised to learn
that I'd got it the other way round.  Oh well. :)

>And yes, they produce infrasound which travels for great distances.
>I wonder how we humans would write an infrasound if we couldn't hear
>it!  :-)>
>
>Charlie
What I'm currently thinking for the infrasound is to have it function
somewhere between radio and shouting- a sort of "town crier" telephony for
distance communication, something like those (Central?) African cultures
that use Speaking Drums.  Thus, most of the sounds can be made at various
pitches (tones, in other words), and the lowest tones (infrasound) are a
set reserved for far-speaking.  Everything would shift down a few scales.

Geoff