Singability
On this page
Place-name roots
A country or territory name is spelled from the English sound. The root still starts and ends with a vowel. It may keep a consonant cluster from the English name (avranza from France). A name with no cluster is at least seven letters and ends in n plus that last vowel (azabana from Japan), so it does not look like a three- or five-letter dictionary root.
The ending is the ordinary name ending: azabanan is Japan, azabanam belonging, azabanal the flag (countries).
A person or place that is not in the lexicon can take the same spelling. The lexicon writes it for a name you type. To keep the original letters, use a span.
| Ageben | Use | English |
|---|---|---|
azabanan | place-name root with no cluster (seven letters, ends n + vowel) | Japan |
avranzan | place-name root that keeps a cluster | France |
Singability constraints
These choices about word shape make Ageben easier to sing:
| Constraint | Why it helps | How Ageben keeps it |
|---|---|---|
| One vowel per letter | Sliding from one vowel to another mid-note forces the mouth to change | Stacked vowels = separate syllables |
| Few consonant clusters (consonants with no vowel between) | Clusters are harder to say quickly | Ordinary shape is consonant-then-vowel at the start of a syllable; the few clusters are listed below |
| Voiced preferred | Unvoiced b, d, g (p, t, k) stop the note; singers often voice them anyway | Voiced preferred; unvoiced allowed as style only |
| No mid-word syllable-final consonant | Ending a syllable on a consonant breaks a held note | Roots are V(CV)+; a final consonant only at the word edge, the m before x on a hook prefix (its -m frame) or a numeric prefix (an approximate number), or the m or r before x on a hooked join (its hook's -m frame or -r point-back). The syllabic l of blr / blw is a held beat, not a final consonant |
| No lexical stress | Music already places emphasis | Stress always falls on the same beat; spelling does not mark it, and music may move it. A word's first syllable sits best on a strong beat |
| Vowel pitch | A melody owns the pitch | Song drops vowel pitch; each vowel's sound alone says which vowel it is |
| Spelling = pronunciation | You do not memorize special readings | One path from letters to sound |
| Audible word edges | Song often removes speech pauses | Content words end in -l / -m / -n / -ln / -r / -rl / -rm (optional -x); stand-ins end in -rl / -rm / -rth |
The clusters Ageben allows: left-hanging gl-; hosted bl-, with a syllabic l before r / w; number-word role letter + r; role letter + w on a tag pronoun, a role compound, a role pointer, or a say word (zw, dw, bw, gw, hw, yw, and blw on a hosted role word); mid-word mx after the hook vowels of a hook prefix's -m frame, or after the number body of an approximate numeric prefix; mid-word mx or rx after the hook vowels of a hooked join (its hook's frame or point-back); word-final -lx / -mx / -nx / -rx; name instance -ln / -lnx; stand-in and sense-pinned resume -rl / -rm, stand-in -rth; consonant runs inside a place-name root. The m or r before x is the only syllable-final consonant inside an ordinary word.
Try singing a short Ageben line quickly at a high but comfortable pitch:
zazozon gamahum.
/ zä.zo̞.zo̞n ɡä.mä.ɦʉm /
Compare a line, not Ageben, that piles up vowels side by side, clusters, and consonants that stop the sound mid-word. It is only a little harder to speak, but much harder to hold on a note:
/ seiɹ ˈʈʂuɹt tis ˈheb.ɡiɹn fuofts /
Rhythm and stress
Give every syllable about the same length, and keep its vowel full however fast you talk. English weakens unstressed vowels to uh (the second a in banana). Ageben never does, because many words differ by one vowel (val, vel, vul), and weak vowels would make them sound alike.
Each word takes a light stress on its first syllable. Since the rule never changes, spelling does not mark it. The ending consonant already tells a listener where a word stops; the stressed first beat tells them where the next one starts, so fast speech still splits into words. A number word stresses the last digit of each group instead.
zazozon gamahum.
/ ˈzä.zo̞.zo̞n ˈɡä.mä.ɦʉm /
The first beat also keeps apart two lines that differ only by a word break: a word that starts mid-line takes a fresh stressed beat, where the same letters inside one word do not. A hooked join (someone in there, as one word) and a join followed by a hook (some people, then in there) can be spelled with the same letters, and this beat tells them apart.
Stress is loudness only: say the first syllable a little louder, with a crisp start. Its vowel keeps its own pitch, and the syllable keeps its one beat, so a stressed a is loud and still low. English raises and lengthens a stressed syllable, so practice stress as a drum accent: say the word on its vowel pitches, then say it again and tap the first beat louder.
Hold the ending. Let the final -l, -m, -n or -r sound for a moment instead of clipping it. It is often the only difference between two words (vul, vum, vur), and all four are sounds you can hold. In singing, put the cutoff on it.
Vowel pitch values
A vowel's pitch is an interval above your home note, not a fixed note, since voices differ by an octave or more:
| Vowel | Semitones above home note | Scale degree | Piano |
|---|---|---|---|
a | 0 | 1 | D♯3 |
o | +3 | ♭3 | F♯3 |
e | +5 | 4 | G♯3 |
u | +7 | 5 | A♯3 |
The piano keys are the finger code's vowel keys, with D♯3 as the home note. Match the intervals, not the notes. The four pitches belong to one pentatonic scale, so any two sound well together, and a line said on its vowel pitches sounds like music. The opposite pair a and u is a fifth apart. u and o, the two rounded vowels and the closest pair by ear, are four semitones apart. The two-semitone steps (o to e, e to u) sit between vowels that already differ in lip or tongue position.
Pitch is heard against your own range, so it helps most inside a sentence, and inside a word with two vowels, which carries its own rise or fall: yaol rises and yuol falls. A voice may drift lower over a long sentence; that carries nothing, as long as neighboring vowels keep their order. A whisper has no pitch, so the vowel's sound alone carries it. The syllabic l has a fixed pitch of +4 semitones, between o and e, and never copies a neighbor.
Words never said quietly
English swallows small words that change the meaning: can and can't often differ by one weak sound, and I think is usually mumbled. In Ageben, give these words their full stress and a clear pitch on each vowel even when the words around them are light:
| Words | Why |
|---|---|
Negation: the u joins (negation) | Missing one flips the claim |
| MAY and its hold endings | Missing one makes a guess sound certain |
| How you know and how strong the evidence is | Missing one hides where the claim came from |
| The kind of can't (ability) | Missing one turns not right now into not ever |
Voice and certainty
Only the words and the written tone marks carry meaning. How firmly you stand behind a claim is the ending on the act word; how sure you are is MAY. Pitch carries two things only: each vowel's own pitch, and the ? mark, which raises a word's whole range. An unwritten rise or fall adds nothing. A statement said with a rising voice is still a statement, and a firm -l claim said hesitantly is still firm.
So listen to the words, not the voice. A speaker whose voice naturally rises at the end is not hedging, and a confident voice is not evidence.
Speech edges
Pitch belongs to the vowels, so the edges of a sentence are marked by words and by time. Almost every edge is a word the listener hears: a join, an /x/ word, a /y/ word. Only two edges have no word: a period, and a scope island (a chunk in braces, so a word inside applies only to that chunk). Those two are marked by silence counted in beats. Every syllable is one beat, so a listener hears the silence as rhythm:
- a break: the next beat comes half a beat late;
- a rest: one whole silent beat.
From smallest to largest:
| Edge | Voice | Taught in |
|---|---|---|
| Word | Louder first syllable, ending held | rhythm and stress |
| Item in a list, before the join word | Nothing extra | right-close fence |
| Join word that ends a list | Nothing extra: the join word is heard | right-close fence |
Soft -m statement or answer | Nothing extra: the -m is heard | periods |
| Scope island | Break before, one tight phrase, break after | scope islands |
/x/ continue, stand-in hang | No rest: the sentence goes on | periods |
| Period | Rest | periods |
| Linker or topic word after a period | The period's rest; the /x/ word says which | periods, topic |
New /y/ turn | The period's rest; the /y/ word is heard | periods |
A list needs no voice of its own, even though the join word comes last: a second word with the same role letter already tells a listener that a list is under way before the join arrives.
In song, a period takes a rest or a held note, and an island is phrased as its own short phrase.
Singing on one note
Every distinction Ageben makes is spelled in its letters, so a line sung on a single pitch still says everything it says in speech. A melody owns the pitch, so song drops vowel pitch: sing each vowel on the melody's note. A songwriter may let a melody follow the vowel pitches, but no song has to. When a melody takes over your pitch, voice each tone mark with how you shape the note:
| Mark | In speech | In song |
|---|---|---|
! | Louder, stressed | Accent: a stronger attack, louder |
? | Raised, tentative | A lighter attack, slightly late |
% | Light, smiling | Short and detached |
& | Stressed and slowed | Held for its full length |
; | Soft, gentle | Smooth and connected, softer |
Thinking sounds
When you need a moment in the middle of speaking, English fills the gap with um or uh. Ageben has two sounds for that gap, and each tells the listener what would help. Neither is a word, and neither is written.
| Sound | Means | The listener | Cue |
|---|---|---|---|
| mmm, lips closed | I am thinking it over | waits and leaves the silence | Lips closed: not ready to speak |
A held a, e or o (any of them), at its own pitch | I know what I mean but cannot find the word | may offer a word | Mouth open: the word is on its way |
Do not hold u: in grammar words u usually means undo or not, so a held u can sound like a denial. A thinking vowel is held well past one beat, so it does not sound like a letter name, which is short and followed by a pause.
Compare with: a thinking sound only holds the gap. To fix a word you already said, use a hook: ol for a better wording of the same thing, el for the thing you meant instead.