Re: Multimodal language (was: Wordless language (was: NonVerbal Conlang?))

Patrick Littell wrote:
> If I were an auxlanger, point #1 on my manifesto would be a phonology in
> which each underlying representation can surface either orally or
> manually.  That is, some underlying form /xyz/ could either surface as,
> say, [kai] or as [thumb-touching-nose] or, preferably, both at once.
> Each phonology would have to be simpler than in an oral-only or
> manual-only language, but for an IAL that's a feature rather than a bug.
The only auxlang I know of that does this is Solresol. Indeed, it
provides several other modes besides just oral and manual.

> Some benefits:
>
> 1. Would greatly reduce the communication barrier between the deaf and
> the hearing.
[the rest snipped]

I quote from an English translation of Boleslas Gajewski's grammar
(1902). Note the notes of the solfeggio were (and I believe still are in
many countries) known as 'do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si'; they are
abbreviated in the grammar as: d, r, m, f, so, l, s.
{quote}--------------------------------
One can make himself understood in the Universal Language Solresol, not
only by speaking out loud, but also without speaking, by night or by
day, from near or far, on sea or on land.
This language provides a means for deaf-mutes of all countries to
communicate with each other, with the blind, and with everyone else; and
it does so likewise in many ways.
It can be spoken, written, silent and hidden; it can be practiced
through mime, telegraphy, visual signs, stenography, sound, telephony,
maritime signals and music:

1º It can be spoken aloud and no one will find its pronunciation
difficult, in any country;

2º The preceding chapters give the five sorts of writing, all very easy;

3º The Universal Mute or Sign Language can be practiced by tracing in
the air, with the hand, the seven stenographic signs. These signs are so
simple that it is very easy.

(For do, it is necessary to make a fist representing a ball or point.
For the repeated notes, one makes the same sign two times with the hand.)

4º One can practice Solresol by touching with the right index finger the
following places on the left hand:

[diagram given in the original]

5º If communicating with someone who can hear, one can practice the
Universal Language by making any kind of knocking or beating sound:

One knock for d.
Two knocks for r.
Three knocks for m.
Four knocks for f.
Five knocks for so.
Six knocks for l.
Seven knocks for s.

6º If dealing with someone who is familiar with music, one has an
additional possibility, because he can practice Solresol by playing
slowly, one by one, the notes on any kind of musical instrument,
separating every word as needed;

7º The Universal Language can be practiced in some hidden way, that is
to say covertly or secretly, in many circumstances.

First case. -- To communicate the words he wishes to express, a
deaf-mute can take the hand of a blind man and alternately press the
fingers, as in the mute Universal Language;

8º Second case. -- Two people facing each other at a distance, as for
example from one window to another, across a street or a square, can
communicate using the stenographic symbols in such a way that only they
can see them.
In this manner, a prisoner can, through the bars of his window, express
his thoughts to the outside world, and vice-versa.

9º One can make use of Solresol at sea, to communicate from one ship to
another, or from a ship to a seaport, or vice-versa, and again in many ways:

First way. -- By displaying from a distance enlarged versions of the
stenographic signs or the first seven numbers--hollowed out and
illuminated, if at night.

10º Second way. -- At night, by displaying bright lanterns or fires of
these seven colors:

red for d.
orange for r.
yellow for m.
green for f.
blue for so.
indigo for l.
violet for s.

(These are, in order, the seven colors that one sees in a rainbow.)

11º Third way. -- At night, by shooting rockets of each of the seven
colors listed above, always separating every syllable as needed, then
pausing briefly between every word;

12º Fourth way. -- If one is something of a musician, he can be
understood perfectly day or night by playing the notes, one by one, on a
musical instrument loud enough to be heard to the required distance;

13º Fifth way. -- By knocking, whistling, sounding or beating a drum, a
bell, a whistle, a hunting horn, a pistol, a rifle, a cannon, etc.,
depending on the distance, always one blow for d, two blows for r, three
blows for m, four blows for f, etc.
{unquote}-------------------------------------------

I think cannons at sea might have been a bit hazardous  ;)

> Anyway, I'm not an auxlanger, and not given to writing manifestos, but I
> thought I'd throw this idea out here.  Has anyone tried to implement
> something like this?
Yep - see above. But I'm not sure anyone on this list has done so.

> What other modalities could the underlying form surface as?  Other than
> writing, which is the usual second mode.  On that note...
The Solresolists had one or two ideas.

[snip]
> Oh, and on a final note, I rather like the term Synaesthetic Language
> for something like the above.
Doesn't "synaesthesia" refer a sensation produced at one point which is
different from the point of stimulation? I'm told, for example, that
some people see/hear music as colors. This, I think, is not the same
things as 'multimodal'.

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
"A mind which thinks at its own expense will always
interfere with language."         J.G. Hamann, 1760

Reply