Musical syntax: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:39, 9 May 2010

Revision as of 10:40, 13 May 2010

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===Linguistic Syntax-three principles <ref name=Patel2008>Patel, A.D. (2008). Music, Language, and the Brain. Oxford University Press, USA</ref>===

Linguistic syntax is especially marked by its structural richness which becomes apparent in its multi layered organization as well as in the strong relationship between syntax and [[meaning]]. That is that there are special linguistic syntactic principles which define how the language is formed out of different subunits, such as words out of [[morphemes]], phrases out of words and sentences out of phrases. The fact that a change in the order of subunits especially in the order of phrases in a sentence can add to a change of meaning, appears to set human language apart from nonhuman animal [[communication systems]]. The sentence “The child with the red shirt hit the man.” has a completely different meaning from the sentence “The man with the red shirt hit the child.” Furthermore, linguistic syntax is featured by the fact that a word can take on abstract [[grammatical functions]] which are less defined through properties of the word itself but through the context and structural relations. This is for example that every [[noun]] can be used as a [[subject]], [[object]] or [[indirect object]], but without a sentence as the normal context of a word, no statement about its [[grammatical function]] can be made. At last, linguistic syntax is marked by abstractness. This means that only conventional structural relations and not psychoacoustic relationships are the basis for the linguistic syntax.

===Musical Syntax <ref name=Patel2008/>===

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The question concerning the kind of structure which features tension and resolution in music is linked very close to the relationship between order and meaning in music. Considering tension and resolution as one possible kind of meaning in music a hierarchical structure would imply that a change of order of musical elements would have an influence on the meaning of the music.

====Abstractness====

The last aspect to examine is the [[abstraction|abstractness]] of linguistic syntax and its correlate in music. There are two contradicting point of views. The first one claims that the foundation for musical scales and for the existence of a [[tonal centre]] in music can be seen in the physical basis of [[overtone]] series or in the psychoacoustic properties of chord in tonal music respectively. But in recent time there is strong evidence for the second point of view that syntax reflects abstract cognitive relationships.

All in all the consideration of syntax in music and language shows, that music has a syntax comparable to the linguistic syntax especially concerning a great complexity and a hierarchical organization. Nevertheless it has to be emphasized, that musical syntax is not a simple variant of linguistic syntax, but a similar complex system with its own substance. That means that it would be the wrong way just to search for musical analogies of linguistic syntactic entities such as nouns or verbs.