ahleidreams

[ahleidreams]

preverb stuff

so i've had sketches of this preverb system for my lang just kinda lying around and i'm returning to it now. most basically these preverbs express certain spatial relationships:

alq- o-  ttʼi-  rəkʷ məji-mji rə-   pp-     evə-n bowl-GEN-inside-LOC  nut~ RED LOOSE-SCATTER-be-PRED

“There are some nuts in the bowl”

alq- o-  ttʼi-  rəkʷ məji-mji n-   ikv- evə-n bowl-GEN-inside-LOC  nut~ RED FILL-PILE-be-PRED

“The bowl is filled with nuts.”

(the first preverb slot generally indicates the nature of the spatial "fit"; the second preverb slot indicates the distribution of the fit.)

and by extension, these preverbs can be used to express temporal relationships:

kal-xʷa tʼe- ni  lə-    sej-  aptə-q 3sg-DAT this-ACC PIERCE-ALIGN-say- PRED

“[I] say this to them regularly/repeatedly.” 

kal-xʷa tʼe- ni  rə-   pp-     aptə-q 3sg-DAT this-ACC LOOSE-SCATTER-say- PRED

“[I] mention this to them occasionally.”

finally, these preverbs can be extended even further in specific lexicalized constructions.

kalaj latlan-xʷa r-    apa-gat deer  horse- DAT LOOSE-say-PF

“The deer mentioned it to the horse.”

kalaj latlan-xʷa n-      apa-gat deer  horse-DAT  POUR.IN-say-PF

“The deer explained/taught it to the horse.”

kalaj latlan-xʷa ov-      m- apa-gat deer  horse-DAT  POUR.OUT-COVER-say-PF

“The deer told all/vented to the horse.”

but this system might be, like, too powerful. it's a combinatorial explosion upon combinatorial explosion of complexity and possibility, and i don't really want it to take over my lang, i want it to be just one layer that i can put more recent linguistic developments on top of.

also, like, i think there are natlangs out there that have similar systems? but i haven't been able to track any down.

[ahleidreams]

writing system progress

just a peek of the work i've been doing on the writing system for my lang. wish i had better handwriting.

[ahleidreams]

my lang is designing itself on its own

i had a stray thought that genitive constructions in my lang would form one phonological word, which is significant because it affects syllabification, e.g.

jakʼaq-u cətʼi → jakʼaq-u-ttʼi forest-GEN inside "inside the forest"

but completely unintentionally this immediately led to the possibility of non-contrived monstrosities of prosodic units without much effort, e.g.

qari- ku- ktik- u- jakʼaq-u- ttʼi- rəkʷ mountain-GEN-bottom-GEN-forest-GEN-inside-LOC "inside the forest at the foot of the mountain"

i'm not sure what the limits on this (if any) should end up being, but i always think it's cool when art develops a mind of its own.

[ahleidreams]

can we just appreciate a great melody

FFXIV Dawntrail SPOILERS (KINDA??)

so im kinda coping with my ffxiv burnout atm.

i started transcribing "Bygone Serenity" very shortly after beating Dawntrail because (ignoring my, lol, opinions about the ffxiv storyline generally) it really moved me. there's alot about it that makes it moving, but can we just admire the melody?

i'd like to talk about the harmony too but uhh this kind of harmony is not my wheelhouse and i cant even really make it out within all that reverb. again, coping.

the melodies are really the focus anyway. they're so colorful on their own. like i could try to explain what makes the melodies just wash over me, like "oh look at all the structure" and "it repeats and elaborates on simple motivic fragments," "chromatic embellishment," "theme and variation," blah blah blah, but honestly, most melodies do those things, and i've never heard a satisfying theoretic account that explains why certain melodies feel so good to me. maybe there's one out there. but in the meantime, can we just admire it? there are certainly things to learn from analyzing it, but let's not forget to spend equal time just enjoying this bygone music.

my favorite part i think is the diminished 7th in bar 22, especially the way the flautist almost seems to choke up while making that tough leap downward.

[ahleidreams]

thinking aloud: conlang darlings

i'd appreciate any input from any seasoned conlangers

so working on my lang i end up with this word:

jakʼaq-rəkʷ ("forest"-LOC)

and for the life of me, i just cannot pronounce it. there's just to many things i have to do with the back of my tongue in such a short time, and what's more, i'm learning that i hold to long on the medial ejectives so they have the rhythm of a consonant cluster when they shouldn't. the ejective may actually be causing most of the problem (though the coda /q/ is not at all easy for me either).

i'd like to be able to pronounce this lang... i don't need to like, speak it fluently, but i'd like to be able to say the words and it not be too difficult.

it looks like my options are:

leave it the way it is

design roots specifically to be easier to pronounce

come up with complicated ruki rule-style sound changes to make words like these easier

get rid of the ejectives

leaving it the way it is sacrifices my ability to pronounce it, and i do care about that (should i?).

manually changing roots might sacrifice naturalism but maybe not?

i definitely don't want to do the sound changes.

but i really don't want to get rid of the ejective. i even simplified things by only including /kʼ/, but apparently even then i struggle with it in medial position

idk

what do

[ahleidreams]

going through stuff

[ahleidreams]

Motivic development in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)???

noticed this interesting similarity while transcribing music from Hunchback.

from the song "Out There":

as appears in the official songbook, IT'S MY ANALYSIS AND WE NOTATE SUSPENSIONS THE WAY I SAY also not sure why i called it a C6, ignore that

from "Kyrie Eleison" in the stage musical (idk which version i have) which corresponds to the film cue called "Sanctuary!" on the soundtrack (around the 1:50 mark):

analyzed using the harmony as audible on the soundtrack (though the choir voicing appears to be different? it's hard to make out, i think the line is buried in the altos or something) also this stage version is down a whole step so i moved it back up, also if you have the score to the film version i need it

i've listened to this music for almost 30 years now, and i'd never noticed this similarity. I only noticed it when looking at it on the page, and that fact (to me) actually makes it more likely that this is intentional.

the context adds to my case: the song "Out There" obviously is about Quasimodo wanting to be free, and the text "Libera me Domine" from the requiem mass means "free me, Lord" and this moment in the score is when he is freeing himself, breaking the literal chains that Frollo imprisoned him with (imprisoned in a building thought to be the house of god, which is interesting).

also i low-key have a grudge against Lindsay Ellis for being so negative about this film over the years and i want her to pay for my therapy bills

[ahleidreams]

transcription: lyrics to “kodoku na tori no you ni”

as best i can tell, the lyrics to this song aren’t anywhere on the web so i transcribed them by ear

[i am not a fluent speaker and these are NOT OFFICIAL so corrections are welcome]

song: 「孤独な鳥のように」 (”kodoku na tori no you ni”) artist: 泰葉 (yasuha) album: ViVid year: 1982

笑いながら さよならを言うわ それが夕べ 交わした約束

寒い風に 頬打たれ思う やっぱりあなたの 温もりが欲しいと

わがままばかり言ってごめんね あなたの優しさが いつか私を　ダメにしそうで 怯えていたのよ

私はかごを離れたlonely bird 一人で飛ぶだけ 安らぎよりも美しい 何かに呼ばれて

明日(あす)に架ける 橋なんて歌を いつもあなたは 歌っていたっけ

渡り越えて 気づいたの　私 あなたは　私の 心の橋だと

真夏の入り江　枯葉のテラス 暖炉が燃える部屋 映画のように　いろんな場面 滲んでめぐるわ

私は風に　逆らうlonely bird 翼は重いけど あなたの愛と　引き換えに 選んだこの空

振り向くたびにあなたの影が 小さくなるのに 思い出だけは鮮やかに 「行くな」と　ささやく

この次逢えばあなたのそばに 誰かがいるでしょう いいのそれでも　わがままの 私を忘れて

私は明日(あす)へ羽ばたくlonely bird 一人で飛ぶだけ 安らぎよりも美しい 何かに呼ばれて