Augmented Vocality: Recomposing the Sounds of Early Irish and Old Norse

像“中世纪早期”和“维京时代”这样的短语具有丰富的意象。对很多人来说，这些词让他们脑海中浮现出剑、头盔、小艇和茅草屋的画面。它们构成了共同文化想象的一部分，包括小学项目、托尔金的历史奇幻世界，以及《维京人》（2013-19）和《最后的王国》（2015-）等热门系列。这种意象在欧洲美术中的遗产既根深蒂固又经久不衰，这一点在大英博物馆的“维京人”（2014）和“凯尔特人：艺术与身份”（2015-16）等展览中得到了突出体现。相比之下，声音的短暂本质意味着声音的过去没有明确的遗产。当一种语言不再被使用时，它的文学作品就越来越局限于那些学会阅读这种语言的学者和专家。焦点从表演和传播转向翻译和讨论。曾经作为充满活力的口头传统的声音人工制品存在的文本，在沉默的印刷页面中变成了化石。语言失去了它的声音。“增强的声音：重新组合早期爱尔兰语和古挪威语的声音”提出了一个基于实践的研究项目和一种分析和探索早期中世纪语言声音的方法。该项目将语言学专业知识与复杂的语音处理技术相结合，旨在赋予早期语言新的生命，并帮助恢复中世纪文学核心的口头质量。特别是，声乐创作与现场电子是一个强大的工具，开发新的见解和复兴文本从早期语言的观众远远超出了文学研究领域。该项目侧重于两种语言，早期爱尔兰语和古挪威语，这两种语言都因其独特的音质和幸存文本的丰富性而被选中，并包括三个综合部分：从选定文本中对单词和音素进行编目和抽样；分析声音样本，为声音处理和现场电子软件的开发提供信息；为声音、合奏和现场电子设备创作音乐作品，以回应原始声音和文本。该项目的每个环节都将产生具体的产出，包括：早期爱尔兰语和古挪威语单词和音素的数字音频数据库和样本库；适应所选语言特定声音的语音处理软件工具；现场电子软件，以支持合成和性能与声乐源材料；至少两首为一个或多个人声、合奏和现场电子演奏而创作的音乐作品；一个包含乐谱、演出录音、可下载软件和数字音频数据库的项目网站；与英国、爱尔兰和挪威三个著名乐团合作举办公开音乐会；在英国、爱尔兰和挪威举行的会议演讲和讲习班；至少两篇同行评议的期刊文章。作为一个跨学科的项目，“增强声乐”解决了语言学和音乐技术、作曲和表演领域的以下研究问题：如何设计一个数字音频数据库和一个中世纪语言的单词和声音样本库？如何开发语音处理技术来响应源材料的特定声音特征？中世纪语言的单词和声音是如何被用作音乐创作的资源的？现场电子设备如何帮助阐明中世纪文本、文字和声音的意义和声音品质？在当代音乐表演的背景下，有可能恢复中世纪文本的口头性质吗？

Phrases such as 'the early medieval period' and 'the Viking age' are rich in imagery. For many people, these words conjure a mental landscape of swords, helmets, longboats and thatched huts. They form part of a shared cultural imagination that encompasses primary school projects, the historically-inspired fantasy world of Tolkien and popular series such as Vikings (2013-19) and The Last Kingdom (2015-). The legacy of such imagery in European fine arts is both deep-rooted and perennial, a fact that was highlighted by exhibitions such as the British Museum's Vikings (2014) and Celts: art and identity (2015-16). In contrast, the ephemeral nature of sound means that there is no clear legacy of the sonic past. When a language ceases to be spoken its literature becomes increasingly restricted to the scholars and specialists who have learned to read it. The focus shifts from performance and dissemination to translation and discussion. Texts that once existed as sonic artefacts of a vibrant oral tradition become fossilised in the silence of the printed page. The language loses its voice.'Augmented Vocality: Recomposing the Sounds of Early Irish and Old Norse' proposes a novel programme of practice-based research and a methodology to analyse and explore the sounds of early medieval languages. Combining linguistic expertise with sophisticated voice processing technologies the project aims to give new life to early languages and help reclaim the oral quality at the heart of medieval literature. In particular, vocal music composition with live electronics is a powerful tool to develop new insights and reanimate texts from early languages for audiences well beyond the field of literary studies. The project focuses on two languages, Early Irish and Old Norse - both chosen for their particular sonic qualities and the richness of the surviving texts - and comprises three integrated strands:Cataloguing and sampling of words and phonemes from selected texts;Analysing the vocal samples to inform the development of voice processing and live electronics software;Creation of musical compositions for voices, ensemble and live electronics in response to the original sounds and texts.Each strand of the project will result in specific outputs, including:Digital audio databases and sample libraries of Early Irish and Old Norse words and phonemes;Vocal processing software tools adapted to the specific sounds of the chosen languages;Live electronics software to support composition and performance with the vocal source material;At least two musical compositions for one or more voices, ensemble and live electronics;A project website with musical scores, recordings of performances, downloadable software and access to the digital audio databases;Public concerts in partnership with three renowned music ensembles in the UK, Ireland and Norway;Conference presentations and workshops in the UK, Ireland and Norway;At least two peer reviewed journal articles.As an interdisciplinary project, Augmented Vocality addresses the following research questions in the fields of linguistics and music technology, composition and performance:How to design a digital audio database and a sample library of words and sounds from medieval languages?How to develop voice processing techniques to respond to the specific sonic features of the source material?How could words and sounds from a medieval language be used as a resource for musical composition? How could live electronics help illuminate the meaning and the sonic qualities of medieval texts, words and sounds?Is it possible to reclaim the oral nature of a medieval text in a contemporary music performance context?