# Is this possible, and if so, wouldn't it be interesting?



## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

What if there was a language, an actual language as comprehended by the left side of the brain, that could consist entirely of pitches and was best spoken with a piano/keyboard?

This hasn't already been done or attempted has it? Wouldn't that be a fascinating way to recycle the innovations of several centuries of Western classical music? I envision something like the 12 tone system, in which pitch, sequences, vertical elements, dynamics and rhythm are essentials.


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## Mesa (Mar 2, 2012)

Is a cool idea. However, if people actually could cope with communicating with it, you might as well have a different key in absolute pitch for each emotion rather than equal temperament 

Chinese has four distinct pitches for certain short words, i believe.

Also, observe 40 seconds in this video for potential issues:


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## Miaou (Mar 1, 2012)

Cantonese has 9 tones - 2 tones each for tone types 'Ping', 'Seung' and 'Hui', and 3 for tone type 'Yap'. It may be very close to what you have suggested.

Though in most of the circumstances people do not communicate only by pitch, rhythm etc., it is not impossible. It's like saying 'Hello' with your mouth closed, most of the people can still guess it right. A longer 'sentence', given a very daily one, can be expressed in the same way in Cantonese. For example tone 3 - tone 2 - tone 1 - tone 3. At least my mum understands it as 「你喺邊呀？」(Where are you?) and 3 - 6 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 3 as 「你做緊咩野呀？」(What are you doing?)

I read another example for message expressed only by tones in Cantonese in a bird-watching guide.




Many people thought the bird is saying 「家婆打我」, 'my mother-in-law beats me'.


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## Jeremy Marchant (Mar 11, 2010)

You could try _The language of music_ by Deryck Cooke.

This product description on the Amazon site is fairly accurate: "This important and controversial book has come to be regarded as a modern classic. Originally published in 1959, it has exerted a profound influence on all subsequent discussion in the field of musical aesthetics. The author's thesis is that the main characteristic of music is to express and evoke emotion, and that all composers whose music has a tonal basis have used the same, or closely similar, melodic phrases, harmonies, and rhythms to express and evoke the same emotions. He supports this view with numerous musical examples, varying from plainsong to Stravinsky. Based on this evidence he argues that music is a language in the quite specific sense that idioms can be identified and a list of meanings compiled. While acknowledging that a 'dictionary' of the language of music cannot easily be provided, he attempts to supply what could at least be regarded as a 'phrase book'. The enlightening analysis of two complete symphonies by Mozart and Vaughan Williams demonstrates the expressive function of musical form, the latter being an element which the author considers inseparable from musical content."


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

From _The Language Construction Kit_ by Mark Rosenfelder:

Another language, Eteodäole, is spoken by iliu, sentient beings who live in the oceans of Almea and have a much higher civilization than humans. The iliu can produce visions in other sentients' minds; naturally, this is used to communicate mere facts. Their language is used more for nuance, emotion, relationships, play, and style.

An example:
*21-k4761~ 2₃₃-s5:7·212\*
recent.love gratitude best-unexpected soft.smoosh
_Great fish, thanks._

The numbers are tones; the other symbols represent modulations such as tempo, beat, tonal color, tremolo, and intensity. The morpheme *k47617* refers to gratitude of a particular sort: domestic, egalitarian, and unsurprising. It's inflected to show that it refers to the most recent of an ongoing series of actions and that these were done out of love; the final note is omitted, conveying a certain affectionate gruffness.

The morpheme *s57212* is a specific culinary term, difficult to convey to human palates; it's inflected to note that it's the best description of the fish (i.e. that no other term would be better) and that this quality was surprising at this time of year.

Some of the other modulations express a willingness to reciprocate or else make love, a faint dislike for the kelp garnish, and a ruefulness that the couple has had some difficult times lately.


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## Lukecash12 (Sep 21, 2009)

Jeremy Marchant said:


> You could try _The language of music_ by Deryck Cooke.
> 
> This product description on the Amazon site is fairly accurate: "This important and controversial book has come to be regarded as a modern classic. Originally published in 1959, it has exerted a profound influence on all subsequent discussion in the field of musical aesthetics. The author's thesis is that the main characteristic of music is to express and evoke emotion, and that all composers whose music has a tonal basis have used the same, or closely similar, melodic phrases, harmonies, and rhythms to express and evoke the same emotions. He supports this view with numerous musical examples, varying from plainsong to Stravinsky. Based on this evidence he argues that music is a language in the quite specific sense that idioms can be identified and a list of meanings compiled. While acknowledging that a 'dictionary' of the language of music cannot easily be provided, he attempts to supply what could at least be regarded as a 'phrase book'. The enlightening analysis of two complete symphonies by Mozart and Vaughan Williams demonstrates the expressive function of musical form, the latter being an element which the author considers inseparable from musical content."


I've always founds aesthetics to be a nutty field; They use descriptions that seemingly fit, always thinking like total generalists.

As for this study, I can suggest a model of the top of my head that could contend with it tit for tat, or at least in my narcissistic head: as opposed to assuming that form, and tonal/modal idioms have emotions intrinsic to them, that everyone has naturally keyed into over the years, it can just as easily be posited that the folk melodies of each region and the aesthetics of the different church groups were typological and symbolical prototypes for a model made using anthropological ethnography's abstracts and terms. Using that logic, political development was key behind the development of western music, and not some mysterious (basically Platonic) form of what is naturally aesthetically appealing to people.


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