Musicologists and linguists had proposed a very provocative idea: Something about a nation's music reflects its native language. They suggested that part of what makes English music sound English, for example, is that somehow it resembles English speech, and French music sounds like the French language. The idea was provocative because these claims were made about instrumental music, not about vocal music. How can instruments sound like speech? We found rhythmic differences between English and French music that reflected rhythmic differences between English and French language.
—Aniruddh Patel, American neuroscientist, San Diego Union Tribune, January 4, 2006

Posted on January 5, 2006 at 6:43 AM

Aniruddh Patel quotations | Permalink | Comments