Towards a forgotten language

Prelinguistic language and aphasia as concepts for vocal-based composition

Is the creative deconstruction that creators look for a step forward or a step backwards? Is it about learning new things or is it about forgetting and remembering? What if we would abruptly disrupt all the natural processes that led us to our evolution as speaking beings? What kind of emotional openness does it take to approach such questions? Are words the prisons we need to escape from?

The paper examines prelinguistic language and aphasia as concepts which can be used in vocal-based composition. A list of tools and mechanisms, originating from prelinguistic language (language of the infants), aphasia (brain damages which affect speech control centres), linguistics, music, whistling language and other fields, result in compositional applications, varying from a capella pieces, music theatre and ancient Greek tragedy.  Eventually, the paper questions the use of existing texts in composition under the scope of Jungian theory.

The research was conducted in the context of the composition master research program of the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. It is published in the Research Catalogue (International Database for Artistic Research)