Music & Language Studies

Jonathan G. Secora Pearl
Linguistics Colloquium, May 18, 2006
University of California—Santa Barbara

Abstract
Music and language are twin aspects of civilization, found in all known human cultures, across time and place, embracing us from our earliest days until the ends of our lives. Speaking and singing are found everywhere and everywhen. Wherein lies the distinction?

The greatest difficulty in answering this foundational question is that we are often deceived by written forms of music and language into believing our object dwells within them, rather than in the sounds that inspire them. On the page, these materials appear far more distinct than they do in sound. Text without context is a world without air; yet context alone remains the unanalyzable chaos of everyday experience. The trick is to find the balance between too much detail, and too little.

Analogies between music and language have often taken the form of comparing abstract models, focusing most significantly on theorized layers of structure deep beneath the surface of our experience. Little effort has been made to compare these domains of behavior at the level of our experience, using real data as the starting point. Arguably, most existing efforts have taken a “bottom up” approach, beginning with theoretical constructs, testing theories with invented data or hypothesized analyses, then seeking ever closer approximations to reality.

What is needed to supplement these efforts is a “top down” approach that begins with natural data, deriving theories from analysis. The main stumbling block has been the lack of shared terminology and transcription techniques for both music and language, that would permit us to describe, analyze, and compare these data on an even footing. In this talk I will present some of the methods that have been adopted within linguistics to address intonation and timing, comparing these to techniques of notation and transcription within a musicological and ethnomusicological framework. I will present some historical attempts at crossing these boundaries, and finally propose some possibilities for future efforts in this regard.

Click here for the presentation slide show (.ppt)

As usual, if you would like to hear any of the sound files, look over my data and analysis, or discuss any related issues, please send me a note to this effect via email: at jonathan(at.musiclanguage.net.