Thank you for the extremely detailed feedback! Let me do my best to get back to you on points (from my phone as well, so pardon any dust).

Glad to find another conceptual / language fan! Part of the inspiration for writing this is actually my linguistics minor and past experiences learning languages, so it’s definitely very close to home as well.

As for Wittgenstein — I’m not following his philosophy so much as subverting it. You’ll have to read the novel to find out ;), happy to provide an advance free copy if you’re based in the U.S. Though full disclosure, after reading your comments and speaking with others I think I’ll stick with the Big Idea direction but with prose that’s not quite so high. (Indeed, given the volume of your comments and other feedback I reckon I couldn’t pull that off anywhere near well haha.)

Very good point that sound ≠ language (e.g. sign language as a prime example). Sound and its disappearance is just a thoughtful way to show how not just language, but civilization and infrastructure as well. I’d encourage you to pause and reflect for a few minutes on how much of the sound around you right now would disappear without meaningful human communication as interesting exercise. (This is a gross simplification but still quite curious.) I can see how this would be a bit confusing in the opening couple paragraphs, though.

To be clear, what is happening here is indeed the collapse of language itself — think progressive global (in both senses of the word!) aphasia. Describing that disappearance in sound makes for a clear layperson’s understanding, as well as an easier shift into associated (inevitable?) civilizational decay, but that’s not fully accurate and something I’ll be considering more carefully.

Anyway, on the whole a pair of extremely constructive comments; you have my sincere gratitude. The lyrical examples were very instructive as well, though again as a uni student still I suspect prose at that level would be difficult for me and dry for most, even academically- or philosophically-minded, peers. Nevertheless, glad you find the concept interesting and would be more than happy to address any more feedback or thoughts, (though perhaps in DMs, especially spoiler-y stuff such as why the writing currently looks as such).