A Sound Word Almanac

This almanac of sound words important to artists and scholars highlights words that expand the way we speak (and write) about sonic experiences.
Why write about sound, and how? If sonic philosophy is the attempt "to think about sound by philosophical means," then a metaphilosophical debate appears almost immediately on the horizon: What is called for is an understanding about sound and language, but also about the preconditions of musical understanding. What is at stake is the question of language and sound, as well as expanding how we speak about sonic experience.
This almanac tackles these questions from artistic, experimental and personal perspectives. An assemblage of nearly 70 practitioners and theoreticians, artists and scholars offer their favorite 'sound word.' These sound words are onomatopoetical, mythological, practical; words of personal importance to the artists and their craft; words from their memory, related to sound. Many entries are not in English - some are untranslatable - and all are accompanied by a personal, explanatory, poetic entry. These are words that have the potential to change our perspective on listening-musicking-thinking.

Bernd Herzogenrath is Professor of American literature and culture at Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is the author of An Art of Desire: Reading Paul Auster (1999) and An American Body|Politic: A Deleuzian Approach (2010) and editor of The Farthest Place: The Music of John Luther Adams (2012) and Deleuze|Guattari & Ecology (2009). His latest publications include the collections The Films of Bill Morrison. Aesthetics of the Archive (2017), Film as Philosophy (2017), and Practical Aesthetics (Bloomsbury, 2020).

List of Illustrations Contributors Mission Statement Alec Finlay Ääni (Finnish) Petri Kuljuntausta [adeukan] (Korean), adjective Suk-Jun Kim "ALAAF!" (German) Peter Kiefer BIM BAM (Czech) Iva Bittová Bla (Spanish) Mikel R. Nieto Boori (Nightingalese) David Rothenberg Brummkreisel (German) Siegfried Karcher BWO (Slovak) Dalibor Kocian clang clang (Tintinese) Bernd Herzogenrath 'dåm' (Norwegian) Maja S. K. Ratkje Dhyam kura kur ? (Bengali/Bangla) Soaham Mandal Flokje (Norwegian) Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad Geroezemoes (Dutch) Rutger Zuyderveld Goception Daniel Wilson [goyo] (Korean), noun Suk-Jun Kim Hea (Yanomami) Stephen Vitiello inaudível e inaudito (Portuguese) Herbert Baioco Klang (Norwegian) Ulf A. S. Holbrook Knurr (Norwegian) Jana Winderen Kropsresonans (Danish, body-resonance) Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen Lod (Slovak) Dalibor Kocian MA'TOSH (Hebrew) Anat Pick Minn (Scottish) Alec Finlay Mololi (Sesetho) Mpho Molikeng mpfft [mpft] ( ) Ingeborg Entrop Musicistica (Italian) Lucia D'Errico [Mistral] (Greek) Tania Giannouli Namaroku (Japanese) Tomotaro Kaneko napevalka (Russian) Jelena Glazova Nuppe Nappe (Dva original) Barbora Ungerová Nuscheln (German) verb. Translation: to mumble, to mutter. Malte Kobel OM (Sanskrit) Budhaditya Chattopadhyay "ÖÖ" (Estonian) Robert Jürjendal ørenlyd (Danish) Jacob Eriksen otonai (Japanese) Kazuhiri Jo & Maho Fujimoto Patasurréalisme (French) David Nadeau Pflotsch (Swiss German) Johannes Binotto Parafonie (Dutch) Mark van Tongeren Psyphony (English) Daniel Wilson Ragaireacht (Irish) Jimmy Eadie Rauschen (German) Pia Palme Retinir (re-ti-nir) (Portuguese) Inês R. Amado Ritselen (Dutch) Esther Venrooij Roar (Yorkshire dialect) Mark Fell Sähinä (Finnish) J-T Vesikkala Wittmacher Schwup (Swiss-German) Salomé Voegelin Schlierig (German) Holger Schulze Schwätza (Swabian: to chat, to gabble, to talk, to speak) Friedemann Dupelius Ssssshhhh (English) Lawrence English Skoskespringe (Dutch) Jan Kleefstra Sniokstimas (Lithuanian) Daiva Steponaviciene So'kout (Persian) Yashar Valakjie Sup (Czech) David Livingstone Tapedropping Daniel Wilson Thuy (Vietnamese) Nguyen Thanh Thuy Ti (Turkish) Ilgin Deniz Akseloglu Tjöh! (Meänkieli and Lule Sámi) Torbjörn Ömalm TOPOT (Russian) Andrey Logutov T'sé (Québecois) Mitchell Akiyama [Tz-lil] (Hebrew) Eyal Hareuveni uid uid (Racoonese) Lasse-Marc Riek Undu (Icelandic) Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir Vah vah Korhan Erel Vårløsning (Norwegian) Paul H. Amble Vómvos (Greek) Dimitrios Bormpoudakis vyhrávat (Slovak) Dano Solontay [yúan fèn] (Chinese) Lane Shi Otayonii Zaghrouta (Arabic Dialect) Selwa Abd (Bergsonist) Zeitkratzer (German) Reinhold Friedl zompig (Dutch) Ingeborg Entrop Index