Alternatives to alternate

Gabor,

You wrote:
________________________________________________________________________
Date: Thu, 14 Apr 2005 19:01:37 -0000
From: "alternativetuning" <alternativetuning@...>
Subject: Re: lost in the tuning forest, where every path is a tuning fork
...

> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "Yahya Abdal-Aziz" <yahya@m...> wrote:
...
> >
> > 1. What are alternate tunings?
> > 2. Why use alternate tunings?
...

With respect, I think "alternative" is better than "alternate".
"Alternate" suggests using one thing then another in a series, but
"alternative" does not have this serial aspect.
________________________________________________________________________

Obviously, to judge by your chosen email address, you've given
the matter some thought.

There is a documented tendency, especially in American English,
to substitute "alternate" for "alternative". What I found
remarkable is that the dictionary I have that documents - and
decries - this, almost in the same breath deprecates the older
teaching that usage of "alternative" should be restricted to one
of only two choices. Language is, and language grows, and not
even the best efforts of lexicographers, governments or
academies can halt or govern its change. Certainly, in our local
(Australian) English, we'd be more likely to use "alternative" to
mean one choice out of many. I chose "alternate" simply because
I thought it would be more widely understood.

I _personally_ feel that the epithet "unconventional" best
captures our intended meaning, since it raises no questions of
number, which the "alternative" terms do, by their very
connotations of duality as opposed to plurality; rather, it
stresses difference, while pointing out that something that
appears to have the force of a law of nature exists only by
human agreement.

However, the downside to using "unconventional" (or even
"different") is its negativity; it can be made to appear
reactionary, and a tendency for iconoclastic vandalism imputed
to its proponents .

To avoid a reactionary labelling, it may be best to choose a
name that emphasis what our subject is, rather than what it is
not. For many of us, "microtonal tunings" may well cover that.
For those that want to place microtonal tunings in their
historical and musical context, it may be better to generalise
the subject to "musical tunings".

Regards,
Yahya

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I was dawdling with the idea that what we are doing here in this group was more "esoteric" than "unconventional". Aren't we the ones who are the iconoclasts in this case?

Cordially,
Ozan
----- Original Message -----
From: Yahya Abdal-Aziz
To: tuning@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 16 Nisan 2005 Cumartesi 6:17
Subject: [tuning] Alternatives to alternate

I _personally_ feel that the epithet "unconventional" best
captures our intended meaning, since it raises no questions of
number, which the "alternative" terms do, by their very
connotations of duality as opposed to plurality; rather, it
stresses difference, while pointing out that something that
appears to have the force of a law of nature exists only by
human agreement.

However, the downside to using "unconventional" (or even
"different") is its negativity; it can be made to appear
reactionary, and a tendency for iconoclastic vandalism imputed
to its proponents .

To avoid a reactionary labelling, it may be best to choose a
name that emphasis what our subject is, rather than what it is
not. For many of us, "microtonal tunings" may well cover that.
For those that want to place microtonal tunings in their
historical and musical context, it may be better to generalise
the subject to "musical tunings".

Regards,
Yahya

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