Pitch Syntax as an Evolutionary Prelingual Innovation

Bibliographic Data

ID20408024
AuthorsPiotr Podlipniak (0000-0002-4326-559X, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume26
Issue2
Pages280-302
Publication date2022-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMusicae Scientiae (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1029-8649 • E-ISSN: 2045-4147
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1029864920941551
OpenAlexW3044564292
LanguageEN
References cited180

Pitch syntax is an important part of musical syntax. It is a complex hierarchical system that involves generative production and perception based on pitch. Because hierarchical systems are also present in language grammar, the processing of a pitch hierarchy is predominantly explained by the activity of cognitive mechanisms that are not solely specific to music. However, in contrast to the processing of language grammar, which is mainly cognitive in nature, the processing of pitch syntax includes subtle emotional sensations that are often described in terms of tension and resolution or instability and stability. This difference suggests that the very nature of pitch syntax may be evolutionarily older than grammar in language, and has served another adaptive function. The aim of this paper is to indicate that the recognition of pitch structure may be a separate ability, rather than merely being part of general syntactic processing. It is also proposed that pitch syntax has evolved as a specific tool for social bonding in which subtle emotions of tension and resolution are indications of mutual trust. From this perspective, it is considered that musical pitch started to act as a medium of communication by the means of spectral synchronization between the brains of hominins. Pitch syntax facilitated spectral synchronization between performers of a well-established, enduring, communal ritual and in this way increased social cohesion. This process led to the evolution of new cortico-subcortical pathways that enabled the implicit learning of pitch hierarchy and the intuitive use of pitch structure in music before language, as we know it now, began

Cognition · Cognitive science · Generative grammar · Grammar · Hierarchy · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Perception · Pitch contour · Speech recognition · Syntax · Computer Science · Multisensory perception and integration · Music and Audio Processing · Neuroscience and Music Perception · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence