Vignette
Japanese and Italian
This post is a counterpoint to the articles
and
Bach’s Fugue (3 ) : The Hidden Blueprint of a Beautiful Language – Italian and Japanese
We will shed light on the architecture of a beautiful language:
I chose Japanese and Italian as examples which seem to be diametrically opposite , are they? Could their dance be the source of true and long lasting vitality ? Could their fusion mimic the workings of love?
At first we will examine them separately and then, may, we will see how they dance together, in language and in the blueprint of a fugue ..
Patterns
I love patterns. The aim of my blog apart from talking about specific things such as the design of a leading hotel of the world, the characteristics of a specific language, or the conceptual DNA of a poem, is to build patterns between the three. Ultimately I would like to shed light on timeless principles which run across all cultures and bring unanimity and solidarity in you mindset while living in a fragmented world.
I would like you to keep to the back of your mind that Hebrew Shoresh , Bach’s Fugue and Primordial essences of Language are cousins – but not siblings
Each of them points to the same timelesss principle : Reality is not chaotic – but each culture hears the same order differently.
Primordial Essence
Primordial essence is the first quality of being – what exists before structure grammar ,culture yet later gives birth to them . Essence is what moves a language, while expression is how this movement becomes words, rhythm, syntax, phonology and so on
Above all it is a generative force which shapes how a civilization thinks and feels.
Japanese and MA
Japanese has several primordial essences. In this text we will zoom into just one, the concept of MA.
MA is the interval between things. It has several characterstics. Let’s focus on 2 primary ones:
A_ It is not absence, it is potenital and presence through restraint.
This gives gravity to all objects being present , a sense of inevitability.
B_ It points to the meaning emerging from the relationship between things. Music is not about one single note but about how notes dances together . In language a pause between two phrases allows the first to rest and the second to obtain gravitational force~
In this respect, MA prevents elements from collapsing into each other , but at the same time it binds them.
Elements are connected diagonally, in an oblique sense
In both instances, the deepest purpose is the allowance of the resonance and intensification of meaning .
Italian Slancio
Italian is in a sense the alter ego of Japanese. While Japanese favours pause, Italian dances with an upward or outward implulse called slancio
However it is not brute force . It is a vector , in t that it has both direction and force.
It is the difference between many things people moving, and few committing .
Slancio in Italian language
Moving on to the manifestation of slancio in the language itself, we will focus on just a few elements :
A Hypotaxis ( linked clauses) that flows
Instead of short, closed units, Italian builds sentences that lean forward, each clause preparing for the next
B Verb driven sentences
The verb is the engine of the sentence , meaning unfolds from actions not nominal blocks
C Slancio in Phonology
1. Open syllables
Italian overwhelmingly favours open sylallbles, open vlowels projecting sound forward
2 Vowel endings
Words tend to end in vowels which resist finality, often making the sentence feel suspended , not sealed~~
3 Stress as lift
Italian often creates a rise then a release which produces vocal lifts
MA in Japanese
Turning to Japanese,
A Sentence final meaning
in Japanese, the verb comes last, which implies that meaning accumulates without committing till the end
This creates syntactic MA.
B Ellipsis as norm
Japanese omits:
- subject
- object
- even verbs
The unsaid is structurally expected revealed from context
C MA in Japanese phonology – the concept of Mora
Japanese words are spoken as a series of equal beats
In English, talking about the pronunciation, the word Tokyo is pronounced as follows:
TO-ky-o
TO is strong the rest is rushed
In Japanese it is
To -o -kyo
Each part takes one beat called mora, nothing is swallowed , nothing is stressed.
Because Japanese tends to count time evenly, speech feels calm, paused , feeling natural
To compare the 2 languages , while Italian cares about stress, Japanese cares abouts beats
In Japanese, the voice can go up or down but without extra emphasis
Timing stays the same, the pinch might change. To exemplify this,
Compare HA-shi (high> low) chopstickes
with ha-SHI ( low>high ) bridge
Morae stay equal even with pitch accent
The hidden blueprint of a beautiful language
After touching upon the primordial essence of these two languages , let’s draw some principles which are applicable to a beautiful languages as a whole – beyond individual cultures.
Primordial Pulse
The first thing to notice is that a beautiful language has a primordial pulse – movement before anything grammar phonology, morphology, phonology
A language is alive because it is animated by something pre structural
Whether we are talking about Italian Slancio, Japanese MA , Greek Logos , French Élan, Hebrew letter Aleph ( the womb of all letters) , Hebew Ruach, beneath every visible structure there is life, maybe because true Beauty is not safe, it requires ‘risqué’ , a touch of imperfection , asymmetry , rule breaking .
Temporal Intelligence
Secondly, a beautiful language is associated with temporal intelligence.
In knows when to advance , pause , suspend, commit.
A beautiful language knows that meaning lives between things
On another notes, meaning does not sit inside words. It emerges from relationships between clauses, advances & silence, what is said explicitly and what remains implicit
An elegant language prevents collapse by maintaining distance without rupture
It trusts what is unsaid
Ellipsis is not deficiency it is confidence , it assumes intelligence, attunement, shared presence
it invites participation , in that it trusts the reader, listener to fill in the gaps
It is at this point that language stops being an object of studying and becomes a model for living
Love
A beautiful language , like Love survives only if it remains alive. Structured, yet improvised , restrained yet daring , capable of advancing and retreating without collapsing into force or silence, trusting the intelligence of the other and the common presence to fill in the necessary gaps.
The hidden blueprint in language and creation
A form that breathes, a structure that dances and the beauty that endures because it is never fully closed.
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Fragnance note
World: Eternal ( archetypes)
Accord : Hebrew as ontological logic
Primary : Base notes ( as it is below perception)
Secondary note: Heart notes: Japanese teaches how to breathe
Tertiary: Top notes : Italian and movement, prevents the article from being monastic
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