Reflections on Process
For the rest of today
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wah wah wah wah
waaaaaahh
So, while I listen at a material level to the phenomenon of the sounds the birds make as they occur in the urban context, I also listen to the birds and I hear them as users of language. I hear their sounds and I do not understand them, yet I understand that intelligent exchange is taking place‌ I do not try to translate their sounds scientifically, as a bioacoustician might, but rather to poetically speculate on the exchanges that are taking place. (11)
wa wa wa wa wah wah wah wah
wah
Using phonetic words to transcribe sound (the birds’ voices) has a formal name, that of homophonic translation, a type of translation where sound is the priority and meaning is secondary or even nonexistent. (12)
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