Insights from metrics (e.g. Kiparsky 1977, Hayes 1988, i.a.) andother artistic adaptations of language have long contributed to phonologicaltheory. This talk demonstrates how musical surrogate languages offer yetanother unexpected source of data for both phonological representations and thecognitive reality of grammatical architecture. I draw on the case study of theSambla balafon, a resonator xylophone with...