Musical Phonology in Six European Languages is a piece for viola duet. The key behind this piece is the expression of two major
components in language: phonology and grammar. Each viola is assigned a purpose, occasionally swapping between each other in
expressing grammatical information or phonological expression pertaining to a given language. In essence, each note encodes either
phonological or grammatical information, the former being the more salient to the ear than the latter. These encodings are written in a
way as to increase, improve and enhance the musicality of phrases and in no way attempt to restrict or constrain musical material.

The piece is divided into 6 sections corresponding to the following European languages: English, German, French, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

Musical Phonology In Six European Language (For Two Solo Violas) (2021)

Airport Piano

Neo Baroque (Perfume)

Peekaboo - Piano

Symphony

Gelang Si Paku Gelang Arrangement K

Community Learning Piano

Canopy (Movt. 3)

LayaR* (2020) 

For Piccolo/Flute, Bass Clarinet, Tam-Tam, Vibraphone, Viola and Cello

LINGUISTICS + SERIAL TECHNIQUE + MUSIC 

LayaR* is the Proto-Austronesian for ‘sail’, and according to historical linguistic, is the ancestral word for ‘sail’ for all Austronesian languages today (e.g. Tagalog, Hawaiian, Maori, etc.). The title itself represents the incredible journey of the language’s spread across the globe, beginning with people who have emigrated from the island of Taiwan to settle in modern day Philippines, Indonesia, Madagascar and the islands of Hawaii.  

It is very easy to overlook the evolution of languages and music as something unrelated until they are seen through the lenses of human history and anthropology. I argue that the methodology of linking two compositions with the divergence of languages are in principle the same in terms of the evolution of sound. Indeed, music is organised sound, while languages (save for sign language and writing) are also organised sounds. For me, I want to represent the evolution of sound change in languages through the medium of instruments. Thus, I developed a serial framework in order to produce notes capable of emulating the sound changes of languages in the same vein as how music developed.

What is historical linguistics? 
In a somewhat oversimplified explanation: linguists survey a set of basic words (they are common words/lexemes like ‘fire’, ‘mountain’, ‘people’, and pronouns). Using the English word ‘sail’ as a base, linguists will translate the word into as many languages as possible. Languages that show remarkable similarity in sound and phonology are then combined together to realise the (hypothetical) ancestral word of ‘sail’ in all or most languages.

LayaR*

I'm a writer, composer, music and English teacher, conlanger and worldbuilder. I do a lot of niche things in life, like reading up on country profiles, creating languages, writing short stories or composing music.

Christopher Sim

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