Glossary
articulatory expletives: the melodic intervals of the unison and the ascending/descending octave and their compounds, used to signal word endings and beginnings or to effect mutations.
canon: The consecutive duplication of a spoken C-1 text (or analogous expletive musical structure) at any melodic interval.
cantus: The principal text of a C-1 recitation, or the person or persons responsible for reciting that text. The cantus is usually situated closest to the audience and forms the principal section of the vox. It determines the prevailing speech characteristics of a lection. In monophonic recitations, the cantus is the same as the vox.
Chromatic-One/Chromatic-I/C-1: A technique for transforming any language whose written form uses the Roman alphabet into one of a number of tonal dialects of that language. The terms also generally signify any or all dialects so created, including "Chromatic French," "Chromatic Italian," "Chromatic German," etc.
composite style: Chromatic speech which combines the use of the strict and florid (free) styles.
diphthong: The spoken form of any Roman alphabetical character in C-1. There are twenty-two such diphthongs, each made up of two vowel sounds of different pitch corresponding to specific ascending and descending melodic intervals.
discantus: Any text or texts used to trope the principal text (cantus), or any person(s) responsible for such tropes. The discantus is usually seated behind the cantus, but in front of the tropus. It is considered the second most important section in the vox.
expletive: Any material which conveys no meaning per se but serves to enhance vocal texture, promote continuity, etc.
florid style: See free style and composite style.
free style: C-1 style in which tropes are employed. Also called florid style. See strict style. The free style is best suited for recitations in which the vox wishes to convey general connotative, rather than literal denotative, meaning. See also composite style.
gloss: Any textual trope which is complementary to the cantus. Usually preplanned, glosses are recited by the discantus.
glossolalia: Ecstatic neologistic utterance in C-1. A type of trope originating spontaneously, possibly in response to the cantus.
hocket: Partition of a text or analogous material among several speakers, sometimes resulting in Klangfarbenstimme.
incipit: The first word of the cantus, which establishes the pitch structure of the entire lection. Unless specified by a particular setting, incipits may begin on any appropriate tone of the chromatic scale in any octave.
Klangfarbenstimme: The use of alternating, distinctly different tone colors in a C-1 recitation or analogous material. This "tone-color voice" typically occurs when hocket is employed in ensemble performances, and recalls Schöenberg's Klangfarbenmelodie.
lection: The recitation of the cantus, with or without tropes. Also called reading.
magadization: Duplication of the cantus at the octave (or sometimes, the unison) or such duplication of any analogous musical material.
matrix: Two or more simultaneously occurring glossolalias.
monophonic motet: The addition of a text in a parent language to a cantus being sung by a vocalist. Two texts are thus conveyed by a single voice. Both texts are necessarily performed homorhythmically.
montage: The sustaining of vowels in C-1 recitations even while subsequent vowels within the same word or later words are sounded. This trope greatly enriches the overall sonic texture and may also have semantic significance. Analogous tropes occur in vocalises or in certain parachromatic tropes wherein constituent elements overlap in time.
motet: A complex vocal structure resulting from the combination of two or more different texts.
mutation: A change of register by use of the articulatory octave expletives or their compounds.
neologism: An existing word used to convey new meaning, or a newly created word.
nest/nidus (pl. nidi): Two or more concurrent vocalises.
onomatopoeia: Term in C-1 theory describing the stylistic tendency of words or related groups of words to sound like or otherwise suggest the persons, places, or things which they signify.
organum: Simultaneous duplication of a C-1 text or analogous material at any interval but the unison or octave.
parachromatic: All sensory stimuli originating outside the linguistic framework of C-1 that serve to trope a given cantus. Parachromatic tropes may preplanned or spontaneous.
paraphrase: Restatement of a text in different words.
parent language: Any language using the Roman alphabet to which the C-1 dialectal technique is applied, e.g., French, Italian, German, Czech, English.
reading: See lection.
redux, restatement: A trope involving the repetition of a cantus, discantus, gloss, variant, or any portion thereof.
setting:An artfully composed transliteration from a parent language into C-1 using musical notation, including any accompanying tropes.
simplex: A trope in which a given pitch is successively repeated a minimum of three times in any register, with or without mutation (e.g., an octave tremolo). Cf. articulatory expletive.
Standard C-1: The basic C-1 dialectal technique outlined in this primer, and the languages resulting from its use, including "Chromatic English," "Chromatic French," "Chromatic German," et al.
strict style: The basic C-1 dialectal technique outlined in this primer, without--or with minimal use of--tropes. The strict style is ideally suited for situations in which literal comprehension of the spoken text by the trained listener is desired. A suitably slow or moderate tempo is generally observed.
transliteration: The phonetic conversion of a text into musical notation or the characters of any other language. Transliterating C-1 texts into conventional musical score format, with the text of the parent language underlaid, is commonly used to facilitate recitation. An artfully composed transliteration using musical notation, with any accompanying tropes, is referred to as a setting.
transposition: A trope in which the various words in a text are rearranged, thus altering the original syntax.
trope: Modifications of a C-1 text for purposes of amplification, beautification, or unification. Tropes may be introduced before, during or after the cantus, and may be combined with one another (composite tropes). They fall into various categories. Expletive tropes are modifications in or accretions to spoken text which do not convey any meaning per se, but which "fill out" the vocal texture. Semantic tropes serve to impart or amplify meaning, usually in a manner complementary to the main text. Tropes which make use of the specific dialectal structures and resources of C-1 are chromatic. All others are parachromatic. This term may also be used as a verb, i.e., "to trope."
tropist: A member of the vox who creates or uses tropes.
tropus: The third most important section in a vox, including all members not placed with the cantus or discantus. This group, usually seated behind the discantus, is responsible for performing relevant tropes.
variant: A version of a text which differs from the original only in slight details.
vocalise: A succession of parachromatic vowel sounds or analogous speech sounds.
vowel: In C-1 theory, a musical tone of definite pitch.
vox: The "voice of voices" which recites a C-1 text, which may consist of three distinct sections: the cantus, the discantus and the tropus. Also, the text and tropes collectively recited by the ensemble in question.