Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 08:11:29 -0600 From: Samuel Jones Subject: Re: Segmentals, Suprasegmentals, & Xylophones (Huh? Howzat?)) To: Thomas Clark Heavens to Betsy! My time was given freely and with gusto, although, obviously, I did not quite grasp what you were about (Wouldn't be the first time that I've jumped onto my "horse" and ridden off in about six different directions. Ha!). I regret I did not offer more of what you were "fooling around" for. Separating relevant fact from so-called irrelevant fascination is never easy, but, as so often is the case, in the irrelevant fascination lies discovery and, not surprisingly, genius. I should love to hear about the conclusions you and your students reach in this matter, if you would be so kind as to share them. I do have the feeling that I should be sitting in YOUR class. Cheers! smj >Sorry. I assumed you realized I was discussing suprasegmentals (though >my students thank you for the mini-lecture). We have been fooling around >with sound spectrographic analyses of suprasegmentals and associating >phonetic (not phonemic) features with instrumental sounds (such as, "How >does a trumpet wail," or "Why does a pan pipe keen?") > >The xylophone of Prfessor Higgins (Professor Henry Sweet) was simply >another query. Sorry to have taken your time. >Cheers, >tlc >Thomas L. Clark 702/895-3473 >University of Nevada, Las Vegas (89154-5011) >tlc[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nevada.edu > >On Mon, 12 Feb 1996, Samuel Jones wrote: > >> To: Thomas L. Clark >> >> Your question has not been forgotten, nor is it being ignored. Your >> inquiry is, to say the least, intriguing, and it piques my curiosity. >> >> I reckon I ought to sit a spell and think on it before attempting to reach >> a conclusion or two about any possibly-relevant similarities between >> >> 1) musical harmonics (the mathematical building blocks of all musical tones >> except "pure" tone generator sounds), along with musical tones' >> >> 2) amplitude or volume, duration, timbre or quality, and pitch, >> >> AND those aspects of speech involving more than just individual vowels or >> consonants (i.e.,SEGMENTALS), which are called >> >> SUPRASEGMENTALS, whose main characteristics are accent or stress, length, >> even juncture**, plus tone/pitch, and intonation, or the pattern of "pitch >> changes" that occurs in a sentence,such as Eliza Doolittle's line, >> >> "How NICE of You to Let me Come." >> >> (** JUNCTURE can mean either the mode of relationship or the manner of >> transition >> between two consecutive speech sounds.) >> >> As I re-read the above paragraph, which I am not altogether certain makes >> complete >> sense, even to me, I realize that the answer to your question may be far more >> complex and involved than I at first thought. Nonetheless, "Hope is but >>a word >, >> but of all words, the only sentinel of permanence!" >> >> Research and investigating a challenge is a lot like peeling an onion - one >> takes >> off layer after layer of the problem, shedding a lot of tears in the >> process; and, >> at the end there is nothing left - but one is still shedding tears. >> >> smj >> >> >> >> >> >> ____________________________________________________________________________ >> DR. SAMUEL M. JONES INTERNET: smjones1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]facstaff.wisc.edu >> Prof. of Music & Latin American Studies TELNET: samjones[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]macc.wisc.edu >> 5434 Humanities Building FAX: 608 + 262-8876 (UW) >> 455 North Park Street >> __________________________________________ >> University of Wisconsin-Madison TELEPHONES: 608 + 263-1900 (UW-Lv. message) >> Madison, WI 53706-1483 * 608 + 263-1924 * (UW-Office - >> * VOICE MAIL--Lv message) >> >> ____________________________________________________________________________ >> "Pen-y-Bryn" TELEPHONES: 608 + 233-2150 (Home) >> 122 Shepard Terrace 608 + 233-4748 (Home) >> Madison, WI 53705-3614 >> ____________________________________________________________________________ >> ____________________________________________________________________________ DR. SAMUEL M. JONES INTERNET: smjones1[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]facstaff.wisc.edu Prof. of Music & Latin American Studies TELNET: samjones[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]macc.wisc.edu 5434 Humanities Building FAX: 608 + 262-8876 (UW) 455 North Park Street __________________________________________ University of Wisconsin-Madison TELEPHONES: 608 + 263-1900 (UW-Lv. message) Madison, WI 53706-1483 * 608 + 263-1924 * (UW-Office - * VOICE MAIL--Lv message) ____________________________________________________________________________ "Pen-y-Bryn" TELEPHONES: 608 + 233-2150 (Home) 122 Shepard Terrace 608 + 233-4748 (Home) Madison, WI 53705-3614 ____________________________________________________________________________