Solresol: The musical language/La Langue Musicale

Above: Solresol is a language based on the 7 note scale, which was originally d0-re-me-fa-so-la-ti-so

I've been reading about language lately, and I came across a really interesting artificial one called Solresol. If that name sounds vaguely familiar, it's because it's the fifth (sol) and the second note in the standard western musical scale. Back in 1822, Jean Francois Sudre came up with a universal language that could be based on musical tones. The benefits of such a system, if romantic, are interesting. First off, speech would become even more musical than it already is (although perhaps that would lead to nightmares of every conversation sounding like a light opera). The tones (more literal than say, Cantonese tones) already hold suggestions of meanings, and Sudre sought to expand that. For instance, words descending in pitch would have a negative connotation, while affirmative ones would rise in pitch. There are many other fascinating elements to Solresol: if you reverse a word, it becomes an antonym. Also, you can easily apply it to the seven color spectrum (ROYGBIV), thus enabling you to communicate in color. Solresol was a uniquely 19th century creation, born of the age of reason, an ambitious attempt to improve communication. This was the time of the metric system, the French revolutionary calendar, amazing scientific advances, increasing travel, as well as romanticism. You'd have to be quite the dreamer to create a musical language.

Unfortunately, Solresol never really caught on. There are some Solresol speakers around today. I'd love to hear a recording of a Solresol conversation, if anyone has one.
There's also a stenographic script created by Vincent Gajewski, which looks like an interesting geometrically based way to visualize Solresol.

More on Solresol

A Grammar of Solresol so you can start learning!

List of Neographies