Foundations of Musical Grammar

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. Zbikowski
Keyword(s):  
Music Theory ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Social Dances ◽  
Musical Analyses

This volume makes a unique contribution to music theory by building on recent research in cognitive science and theoretical perspectives adopted from cognitive linguistics to present an account of the foundations of musical grammar. Musical grammar is conceived of as a species of construction grammar, in which grammatical elements are form-function pairs. In the case of music, basic constructions are sonic analogs for dynamic processes that are central to human cultures. This volume focuses on three such processes: those related to emotions, to gestures, and to dance. The first chapter introduces the volume and explains how this approach connects with previous work in music theory. The second chapter reviews research on analogy and shows how it provides a basis for analogical reference, which is fundamental to musical grammar. The third chapter describes the connection between music and the emotions facilitated by analogical reference. The fourth chapter explores connections between human gesture and musical utterances, and shows how both rely on the infrastructure for human communication that is also exploited by language. The fifth chapter demonstrates how music provides sonic analogs for the steps of social dances, and how music combined with dance has been used to structure social interactions. The sixth chapter focuses on the combination of language and music that occurs in songs, making clear how the different grammatical resources offered by music and language shape how meaning is constructed in songs. Detailed musical analyses are offered in each chapter, as well as summaries of the basic elements of musical grammar.

SPEECH INTONATION PERCEPTION DEFICITS IN MUSICAL TONE DEAFNESS (CONGENITAL AMUSIA)

2008 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANIRUDDH D. PATEL ◽  
MEREDITH WONG ◽  
JESSICA FOXTON ◽  
ALIETTE LOCHY ◽  
ISABELLE PERETZ
Keyword(s):  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
French Canadian ◽  
Congenital Amusia ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Pitch Direction ◽  
Melody Perception ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Musical Tone ◽  
Important Evidence

TO WHAT EXTENT DO MUSIC and language share neural mechanisms for processing pitch patterns? Musical tone-deafness (amusia) provides important evidence on this question. Amusics have problems with musical melody perception, yet early work suggested that they had no problems with the perception of speech intonation (Ayotte, Peretz, & Hyde, 2002). However, here we show that about 30% of amusics from independent studies (British and French-Canadian) have difficulty discriminating a statement from a question on the basis of a final pitch fall or rise. This suggests that pitch direction perception deficits in amusia (known from previous psychophysical work) can extend to speech. For British amusics, the direction deficit is related to the rate of change of the final pitch glide in statements/ questions, with increased discrimination difficulty when rates are relatively slow. These findings suggest that amusia provides a useful window on the neural relations between melodic processing in language and music.

The Role of Musical Development in Early Language Acquisition

2018 ◽  
pp. 565-591
Author(s):  
Anthony Brandt ◽  
L. Robert Slevc ◽  
Molly Gebrian
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cultural Transmission ◽  
Developmental Disorders ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Infant Brain

Language and music are readily distinguished by adults, but there is growing evidence that infants first experience speech as a special type of music. By listening to the phonemic inventory and prosodic patterns of their caregivers’ speech, infants learn how their native language is composed, later bootstrapping referential meaning onto this musical framework. Our current understanding of infants’ sensitivities to the musical features of speech, the co-development of musical and linguistic abilities, and shared developmental disorders, supports the view that music and language are deeply entangled in the infant brain and modularity emerges over the course of development. This early entanglement of music and language is crucial to the cultural transmission of language and children’s ability to learn any of the world’s tongues.

The Effect of Familiarity on Neural Representations of Music and Language

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Avital Sternin ◽  
Lucy M. McGarry ◽  
Adrian M. Owen ◽  
Jessica A. Grahn
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Instrumental Music ◽  
Training Period ◽  
Neural Representations ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Musical Memory ◽  
The Brain

Abstract We investigated how familiarity alters music and language processing in the brain. We used fMRI to measure brain responses before and after participants were familiarized with novel music and language stimuli. To manipulate the presence of language and music in the stimuli, there were four conditions: (1) whole music (music and words together), (2) instrumental music (no words), (3) a capella music (sung words, no instruments), and (4) spoken words. To manipulate participants' familiarity with the stimuli, we used novel stimuli and a familiarization paradigm designed to mimic “natural” exposure, while controlling for autobiographical memory confounds. Participants completed two fMRI scans that were separated by a stimulus training period. Behaviorally, participants learned the stimuli over the training period. However, there were no significant neural differences between the familiar and unfamiliar stimuli in either univariate or multivariate analyses. There were differences in neural activity in frontal and temporal regions based on the presence of language in the stimuli, and these differences replicated across the two scanning sessions. These results indicate that the way we engage with music is important for creating a memory of that music, and these aspects, over and above familiarity on its own, may be responsible for the robust nature of musical memory in the presence of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

Beethoven’s Prosthesis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan De Souza
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Music Theory ◽  
Cognitive Neuroscience ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Ecological Psychology ◽  
The Body ◽  
Culturally Specific ◽  
Conceptual Metaphors

This chapter takes performances by the deaf Beethoven as an instance of body-instrument interaction. Prior research in music theory, drawing on cognitive linguistics, suggests that Beethoven’s music was shaped by conceptual metaphors, which are both culturally specific and grounded in the body. Yet this chapter shows that players’ experience is not simply embodied but also technical. To that end, the chapter explores cognitive neuroscience, ecological psychology, and phenomenology. Patterns of auditory-motor coactivation in players’ brains are made possible by the stable affordances of an instrument. These auditory-motor connections support performative habits, and they may be reactivated and recombined in perception and imagination—supporting Beethoven’s auditory simulations after hearing loss, for example.

Teamwork from accounting graduates: what do employers really expect?

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 348-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Paguio ◽  
Beverley Jackling
Keyword(s):  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Curriculum ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Teamwork Skills ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Accounting Graduates

Purpose The ability to work effectively in a team is highly regarded by employers of accounting graduates, yet they have expressed concern that many university graduates lack teamwork skills. Furthermore, in the context of the accounting curriculum, a “conceptual vagueness” surrounds a workplace-relevant definition of teamwork. Drawing on the theoretical perspectives of the healthcare sector where teamwork skills are required to be taught and assessed as part of accreditation processes, this study investigates what teamwork means from the perspective of accounting employers. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of employers to acquire descriptions of teamwork observed from graduate recruits. Using an analyst triangulation process, resulting teamwork items were analysed and emerging themes were identified. Findings Teamwork in accounting work contexts were identified, confirmed and explained. Mapped against the healthcare teamwork theories, many teamwork items from the interview analysis clustered around the mutual support competency and the dimensions of traits and motives. Research Limitations/implications The study was restricted to employers collaborating in one university’s placement program. Further research could investigate more diverse employer groups, determine importance ranking of identified teamwork themes and seek explanations for differences among different employer groups. Practical implications An enhanced description of teamwork is significant in supporting student awareness and informing teaching innovations/assessments of this generic skill in the accounting curriculum. Originality/value The paper provides a unique contribution of evidence-based descriptions of teamwork expected of accounting graduates, thus addressing conceptual and practical ambiguity of the meaning of teamwork skills in the accounting profession.

scholarly journals METAPHOR AND HUMOR THEORIES REVIEW

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (69) ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
E.V. Cherkasova ◽  
◽  
N.E. Petrova ◽  
Yu.I. Yefremova ◽  
O.V. Petryanina
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Cognitive Models ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Cognitive Approaches ◽  
Cultural Linguistics

Subject of the article is cognitive models of metaphor and humor and their consideration in light of some existing theoretical approaches. The main subject is an overview of cognitive approaches to the study of metaphor and humor. The aim of the work is to try to consider and analyze some theoretical approaches to the study of metaphor and humor, to reveal their common characteristics. The methodological basis is the work of domestic and foreign scientists in the field of cognitive linguistics. The basic method is a descriptive analysis, generalization and comparison method. Results include an overview and analysis of some of the cognitive approaches to the study of metaphor and humor. and may serve as a further solution of the problem of the co-functioning of these cognitive models and the creation of a joint category of "metaphorical humor”. Scope of Results ". may be the development of special courses on cultural linguistics, language theory, stylistics. Output. Some theoretical approaches to the study of metaphor and humor are outlined. Complexity and versatility of both metaphor and humor, frequent use of them in any sphere of human communication cause, large variety of existing theories and numerous studies regarding the nature of their origin and role from the point of view of the sociocultural aspect of human activity. The combined approach of the above theories can be used in the analysis of the description of cognitive processes explaining the potential functioning of metaphor and humor in one expression

scholarly journals MUSIC AND LANGUAGE IN INTERDISCIPLINARY CONNECTION

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 388
Author(s):  
Mirdza Paipare
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Actual Problem ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Speech And Language Development

Nowadays speech and language development is actual problem. This research was conducted to find out how music could help in solving this problem and to find out how connected music and language processes are in our brain. Language and music share a lot of similarities in terms of neurology, Music Therapy, communication and psychology and their interactions are successfully used in these sciences. Aim of this research was to gather data and scientific basis for music’s ability to improve speech and language. Main findings indicate that this topic has been studied for decades and still hasn’t lost its significance. Music can influence language processes, lessen disorders because it is neurologically and psychologically close to our spoken language. 

Dynamic hierarchical cognition: Music and language demand further types of abstracta

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tudor Popescu ◽  
W. Tecumseh Fitch
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Process ◽  
Sensory Input ◽  
Hierarchical Structures ◽  
Human Language ◽  
Building Capacity ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Tree Building

Abstract Hierarchical structures are rapidly and flexibly built up in the domains of human language and music. These domains require a tree-building capacity – “dendrophilia” – to dynamically infer hierarchical structures from sensory input (or to hierarchically structure output), based on subunits stored in a lexicon. This dynamic process involves a crucial class of abstracta overlooked in the target article.

Music and Words

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. Zbikowski
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Franz Schubert ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Music And Language ◽  
Carl Loewe ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
Construct Meaning ◽  
The Way

This chapter focuses on the different ways language and music construct meaning as revealed through the medium of song. The chapter focuses on the German Lied of the early nineteenth century, and it offers analyses of three settings of Goethe’s lyric poem “Über allen Gipfeln ist Ruh.” The first is an 1814 setting by Carl Friedrich Zelter; the second was written around 1816 by Carl Loewe; the third was completed sometime before 1824 by Franz Schubert. These analyses show how each setting changes the interpretation of Goethe’s poem, demonstrating how the different grammatical resources offered by music and language shape the way meaning is constructed in these songs.

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