VItaly Vetash
COLORBET (Color IPA)
synesThesia
of
phonetics
The COLOR alphabet on the base of IPA is worked
out by Vitaly Vetash, the Russian painter and linguist. The first varient of the color alphabet was done
in 1983, on the base of psycholinguistic investigations. The model is based on
the kinship of psychological meaning of sounds and colors.
In the 1970’s Kaliningrad
University scientific group of A.P. Zhuravlev had found fixed correspondance
between vowels and colors statistically (the most of people feel A as red,
loud, open, active). Exploring use of sounds in poetry, according this
psycholinguistic model, the group had
got interesting results: e.g. when counting the frequency of all the sounds in
famous poems about autumn, these poems turned to be colored in yellow-red
tints, etc.
According the system of Goete (which now is used in T.V. transmission),
all the variety of colors is based on fusion of 3 main rays (red, yellow and
blue), light and shadow. The similar law we can find in phonetics, where the
variety of vowel comes from the combination of the triangle of the main sounds
(A, I, U). Colors of vowels are: A is red, I – blue, U – green (not yellow, but
green, as used in T.V.). Green is a more fixed tint, than yellow, and sound is
more material, than color.
It’s possible to extend the system, including consonants (which was done
by V.Vetash). Vowels, being the most resonant
between phonemes, represent clear colors, and consonants have more complicated
formant structure, representing complex tints of colors. We can find color
tints for them according the place of their formation, connected with
their acoustic characteristics (represented in IPA table). So the colors of
consonants can be considered as derivative from vowels, close to them:
— Laryngeal and back A (red) and O (yellow) give their tints to
guttural, velar and uvular (G, K, H etc.), which have colors from ochre to
brown.
— Front (deep blue) I and more closed (daffodil-green) E give
color to point and dorsal dental sounds (S, Z, T, D etc.), which have
blue-green and grey tints.
— According labial deep-green U, labial (B, P, V, F etc.) have tints
from warm-green to emerald.
According the psycholinguistic investigations of Zhuravlev, one can give to not sonorous consonants more dark colors than to sonorous, voiced have more bright colors than voiceless, fricative are more colored than plosive. That is, brightness depends on sonority: from rich colors (of sonants) to dry tints (of voiceless plosive sounds). Sonorous consonants, having more clear colors, are more close to vowels (R is ruby-colored, and burr R is orange; velar L is yellow-white and palatal L is white-rosy. Nasal vowels: mat-green M, mat-beige N, light-violet Y, dark-yellow W).
Below the color scheme according the table IPA
(International Phonetic Alphabet) is represented. It shows that tints of
kindred sounds are close. However, plain (flat) reproduction of sounds doesn’t
reflet the character of sounds exactly, because in the strict way one has to
reproduce the texture also. Thus, colors of vowels must have additional luminescence,
and consonants produce material sensations. For example, sibilants (S, Z, TS)
could be reflected by metallic surface,
and gutturals coinsides with shaggy (wooden or board) surface. Dim-lackered surface
fits for resonant sounds (L,M,N etc.).
VOWELS
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i |
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y |
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uu |
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u |
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I |
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Y |
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9 |
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U
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U |
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e |
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e |
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o |
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o |
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E |
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oe
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3 |
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A
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‘O
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ae |
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OE
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a |
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&
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ao
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CONSONANTS
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p |
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b |
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t |
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d |
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c |
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J
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k |
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g |
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q |
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G |
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‘ |
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? |
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ph |
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bh |
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th |
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dh |
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c. |
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J |
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x |
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gh |
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X |
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Gh
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h |
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‘’ |
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h |
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‘h |
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hv |
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w |
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s |
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z |
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ts |
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dz |
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j |
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y |
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s’ |
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z’ |
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ts’ |
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dz’
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sh |
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zh |
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tsh |
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dzh
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f |
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v |
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tL |
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dL |
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v |
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l |
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lj |
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L
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m |
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n |
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nj |
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ng |
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N
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br |
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r |
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rr |
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R |
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rl |
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rz |
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For word reproduction on the
base of the color-alphabet, it wouldn’t be right to alternate colors of sounds
in the equal proportions. The appropriate model could be like this:
— Width of colors of vowels must be twice more than consonants.
— The first sound of word is more important, i.e. a consonant is twice,
and a vowel is three times wider than ordinary consonant.
— Stressed vowel is 1,5 times wider than ordinary, and reduced is twice
narrower than ordinary (that is equal to the ordinary consonant).
— A rare or long consonant (e.g. f, ssh’
in Russian) must be also 1.5 times wider than ordinary.
— For Russian language: soft
consonants must be represented darker.
The example of color writing
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c |
o |
l |
o |
r |
a |
l |
ph |
a |
b |
e |
t |
russian
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ts |
v’ |
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t |
n |
o |
j |
a |
l |
f |
a |
v’ |
i |
t |
V.Vetash ©1983 (PC-2008)