The Language Exchange

Program Notes

"Part sound art, part word game, and part linguistics demonstration, The Language Exchange: Phonological Variant is a celebration of the unity and diversity in language. Players of the game share both words and stories, engaging in an exchange of not only language, but also of understanding and cross-cultural connection. We invite you to celebrate with us and hear for yourself the timeless beauty of language around the world."

 

Recording and Transcript

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Link if transcript is broken

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For musical interest, the transcripts were generated beforehand, and for lack of speakers at the performance venue, roughly half of the languages were prerecorded. The transcript and recording were both collaboratively generated in the span of the two weeks using the instructions below.

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This piece can also be used to demonstrate linguistic phenomena such as differences in phonological inventories, nativization of loanwords (start with a loanword), lexical cognates (start with a cognate), and more.
 

You can read the instructions here:

Instructions.

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Or to make it really simple (which is the beauty of it), grab a few friends and tell them you're playing "linguistic telephone.*" They'll catch on quick. You can use the rules to clarify how to play or to get ideas, too.

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Tips:

1. Changing consonants before changing vowels produces closer-sounding words.

2. You can usually add or remove ~1 syllable at a time before the new word sounds too different.

3. Talk to each other about how your languages are different and how your cultures, linguistic or otherwise, have affected each other! This exchange of culture is the most important part!

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*Perhaps elaborate: "One person says a word in their language and the next person says the word in their language that sounds the closest to the first."