A Sound Word Almanac

Professor Bernd Herzogenrath (Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main, Germany)

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English

Bloomsbury Publishing USA
26 June 2025

Theory of music & musicology; World music; Yearbooks, annuals, almanacs; Media studies

This almanac of sound words important to artists and scholars highlights words that expand the way we speak (and write) about sonic experiences.

Why write about sound, and how? If sonic philosophy is the attempt ""to think about sound by philosophical means,"" then a metaphilosophical debate appears almost immediately on the horizon: What is called for is an understanding about sound and language, but also about the preconditions of musical understanding. What is at stake is the question of language and sound, as well as expanding how we speak about sonic experience.

This almanac tackles these questions from artistic, experimental and personal perspectives. An assemblage of nearly 70 practitioners and theoreticians, artists and scholars offer their favorite ‘sound word.’ These sound words are onomatopoetical, mythological, practical; words of personal importance to the artists and their craft; words from their memory, related to sound. Many entries are not in English – some are untranslatable – and all are accompanied by a personal, explanatory, poetic entry. These are words that have the potential to change our perspective on listening-musicking-thinking.

Edited by: Professor Bernd Herzogenrath (Goethe University of Frankfurt/Main Germany)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9798765109090
Pages: 168
Publication Date: 26 June 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

List of Illustrations Contributors Mission Statement Alec Finlay Ääni (Finnish) Petri Kuljuntausta [adeukan] (Korean), adjective Suk-Jun Kim “ALAAF!” (German) Peter Kiefer BIM BAM (Czech) Iva Bittová Bla (Spanish) Mikel R. Nieto Boori (Nightingalese) David Rothenberg Brummkreisel (German) Siegfried Karcher BWO (Slovak) Dalibor Kocian clang clang (Tintinese) Bernd Herzogenrath ‘dåm’ (Norwegian) Maja S. K. Ratkje Dhyam kura kur ? (Bengali/Bangla) Soaham Mandal Flokje (Norwegian) Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad Geroezemoes (Dutch) Rutger Zuyderveld Goception Daniel Wilson [goyo] (Korean), noun Suk-Jun Kim Hea (Yanomami) Stephen Vitiello inaudível e inaudito (Portuguese) Herbert Baioco Klang (Norwegian) Ulf A. S. Holbrook Knurr (Norwegian) Jana Winderen Kropsresonans (Danish, body-resonance) Tina Mariane Krogh Madsen Lod (Slovak) Dalibor Kocian MA'TOSH (Hebrew) Anat Pick Minn (Scottish) Alec Finlay Mololi (Sesetho) Mpho Molikeng mpfft [mpft] ( ) Ingeborg Entrop Musicistica (Italian) Lucia D’Errico [Mistral] (Greek) Tania Giannouli Namaroku (Japanese) Tomotaro Kaneko napevalka (Russian) Jelena Glazova Nuppe Nappe (Dva original) Barbora Ungerová Nuscheln (German) verb. Translation: to mumble, to mutter. Malte Kobel OM (Sanskrit) Budhaditya Chattopadhyay ""ÖÖ"" (Estonian) Robert Jürjendal ørenlyd (Danish) Jacob Eriksen otonai (Japanese) Kazuhiri Jo & Maho Fujimoto Patasurréalisme (French) David Nadeau Pflotsch (Swiss German) Johannes Binotto Parafonie (Dutch) Mark van Tongeren Psyphony (English) Daniel Wilson Ragaireacht (Irish) Jimmy Eadie Rauschen (German) Pia Palme Retinir (re-ti-nir) (Portuguese) Inês R. Amado Ritselen (Dutch) Esther Venrooij Roar (Yorkshire dialect) Mark Fell Sähinä (Finnish) J-T Vesikkala Wittmacher Schwup (Swiss-German) Salomé Voegelin Schlierig (German) Holger Schulze Schwätza (Swabian: to chat, to gabble, to talk, to speak) Friedemann Dupelius Ssssshhhh (English) Lawrence English Skoskespringe (Dutch) Jan Kleefstra Šniokštimas (Lithuanian) Daiva Steponaviciene So’kout (Persian) Yashar Valakjie Šup (Czech) David Livingstone Tapedropping Daniel Wilson Thuy (Vietnamese) Nguyen Thanh Thuy Ti (Turkish) Ilgin Deniz Akseloglu Tjöh! (Meänkieli and Lule Sámi) Torbjörn Ömalm TOPOT (Russian) Andrey Logutov T’sé (Québecois) Mitchell Akiyama [Tz-lil] (Hebrew) Eyal Hareuveni uid uid (Racoonese) Lasse-Marc Riek Undu (Icelandic) Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir Vah vah Korhan Erel Vårløsning (Norwegian) Paul H. Amble Vómvos (Greek) Dimitrios Bormpoudakis vyhrávat (Slovak) Dano Solontay [yúan fèn] (Chinese) Lane Shi Otayonii Zaghrouta (Arabic Dialect) Selwa Abd (Bergsonist) Zeitkratzer (German) Reinhold Friedl zompig (Dutch) Ingeborg Entrop Index

Bernd Herzogenrath is Professor of American literature and culture at Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He is the author of An Art of Desire: Reading Paul Auster (1999) and An American Body|Politic: A Deleuzian Approach (2010) and editor of The Farthest Place: The Music of John Luther Adams (2012) and Deleuze|Guattari & Ecology (2009). His latest publications include the collections The Films of Bill Morrison. Aesthetics of the Archive (2017), Film as Philosophy (2017), and Practical Aesthetics (Bloomsbury, 2020).

Reviews for A Sound Word Almanac

"""The seemingly futile struggle of trying to describe sounds around us is truly revelatory in the hands of these thinkers. From raspy bird song to humming tops, sub bass wobble to He�, Goception to geroezemoes, klang to musicistica, it's a magical and exotic lexicon from the imagined to the real."" --Robin Rimbaud (Scanner), electronic musician and sound designer ""This wonderful book invites us into dozens of fantastical sound worlds, each with its own local guide, anthropologist or storyteller eager to lead us through regions and languages real and imagined, human and non-human. We return from these travels delighted and amazed, equipped with a conceptual and sonic imagination vastly expanded and an auditory vocabulary wildly enriched."" --Christoph Cox, Dean of Eugene Lang College, The New School, USA, and co-editor of Audio Culture, Revised Edition (Bloomsbury, 2017) ""Delving into the intricate relationships between language, sound, and our capacity to verbalize sonic experiences, A Sound Word Almanac invites readers into a vibrant exploration of auditory terminology, affording a fresh perspective on sound. Transcending the confines of conventional lexicons, this almanac embarks on an original linguistic expedition, offering a recollection of rare, unfamiliar, and largely unknown words. Emphasizing artistic, experimental, and personal perspectives from different languages and cultural spaces, this book is both original and unique, creating a whole new research field. Like a terminological colourful kaleidoscope, A Sound Word Almanac is a great read that will revamp your relationship with sound and sonic events."" --Paulo de Assis, pianist, experimental performer, and Principal Investigator, Orpheus Institute, Belgium"