Do Music and Language Obey the Same Rules?

Emre Sevinc writes "Ever felt as though a piece of music is speaking to you? You could be right: musical notes are strung together in the same patterns as words in a piece of literature, according to an Argentinian physicist. This article in Nature states that Damián H. Zanette's analysis also reveals a key difference between tonal compositions, which are written in a particular key, and atonal ones, which are not. This sheds light on why many people find it so hard to make sense of atonal works. In both written text and speech, the frequency with which different words are used follows a striking pattern. In the 1930s, American social scientist George Kingsley Zipf discovered that if he ranked words in literary texts according to the number of times they appeared, a word's rank was roughly proportional to the inverse of the its frequency squared. Herbert Simon later offered an explanation for this mathematical relationship. He argued that as a text progresses, it creates a meaningful context within which words that have been used already are more likely to appear than other, random words. For example, it is more likely that the rest of this article will contain the word 'music' than the word 'sausage'. Physicist Damian Zanette of the Balseiro Institute in Bariloche, Argentina, used this idea to test whether different types of music create a semantic context in a similar fashion."

Comments

Ut oh.

[Steamhead]

I'd hate to know what disco is saying to me!

Re:Ut oh.

[cynic10508]

Well how about music from spam?

Well, since we already have poetry from spam we have the lyrics. So just add a tune. I hear something like the cheesy music you hear at a circus with the clowns.

Re:Ut oh.

[Epistax]

"You look good in that. Trust me. You won't regret it in 20 years."

Hmm

[B3ryllium]

Sausage.

(It had to be said.)

Re:Hmm

[Soul-Burn666]

First time i've seen a comment consisting roughly only of the word "Sausage" being modded insightful, and is actually on topic!

Re:Hmm

[klmth]

This whole story is turning into a giant sausage-fest.

Re:Hmm

[proj_2501]

sounds more like it was brought to you by the letters T, H, and C

Re:Hmm

[Zone-MR]

Does it work more than once?

>>> Sausage

Well,

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know about you guys, but sometimes I feel a piece of music really sausages to me.

-fren

My girlfriend is listening to VH1...

[Realistic_Dragon]

...and all it is saying to me is that cutting my own ears off could be blessed relief.

Re:My girlfriend is listening to VH1...

[Zork the Almighty]

And all of your paintings will automatically increase in value!

So what kind of music are they talking about?

[King_of_Prussia]

I'm pretty sure if they threw their algorithms at a pile of deathmetal CD's or some experimental techno the results would be just slightly off.

I shudder to think what kind of conversation is analagous to old Bill Shatner's musical attempts.

Re:So what kind of music are they talking about?

[fucksl4shd0t]

but if you can't respect all genres of music, that tells me you really don't understand anything about music at all.

Respecting genres of music is like respecting religion. There's no point to it, and no practical value in doing so, other than if you don't, you might offend the liberals. ;)

Sure it Is

[illuminata]

It's because your favorite musician is probably using this effect.

Especially if your favorite musician is this guy.

Almost like politics

[tsm_sf]

For example, it is more likely that the rest of this article will contain the word 'music' than the word 'sausage'.

Wrap your brain around that one, Ashcroft.

Ut oh.-Rewind.

[Anonymous Coward]

"I'd hate to know what disco is saying to me!"

Buy a pair of polyester bell-bottom pants, and wear lots of jewelry.

Obligatory Simpsons

[Anonymous Coward]

Jimbo: Man, that guy's guitar is talking.
Otto: Hey, my shoes are talking too!
Left Shoe: Don't worry. We won't hurt you.
Right Shoe: We only want to have some fun.

Inexplicable

[physicsphairy]

In the 1930s, American social scientist George Kingsley Zipf discovered that if he ranked words in literary texts according to the number of times they appeared, a word's rank was roughly proportional to the inverse of the its frequency squared.

So, given my experiences downtown, "f***" has a frequency of what, 0.0001?

Sheesh, I'd swear people down there are capable of holding complete and intricate conversations using solely that word.

It must be the most musical word of all.

Re:Implications for copyright?

[Scaba]

Scary? I thought D minor was the saddest of all keys?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Chances

[CSharpMinor]

For example, it is more likely that the rest of this article will contain the word 'music' than the word 'sausage'.

Apparently, the probability of the word 'sausage' appearing was still pretty good.

Re:uses of the word

[mikeage]

I saw a letter to the editor from US News in which someone commented on a sentence he heard back in WW2 from an airplane mechanic:

Fuck! Fuck this fucking fuck!

The writer noted how he was impressed that in 5 words he could use 4 fucks, each a different part of speech.

Of course music is language

[Anonymous Coward]

Unfortunately, you're limited to the letters a,b, c, d, e, f, and g though. So you can say BAG and GAB or CAB or even CABBAGE. However, the lack of the other 19 letters means that music will never be as truly expressive as natural language.

{old Harvard Lampoon bit}

Re:Research Validated

[fucksl4shd0t]

If you're a musician, you know that excessive accidentals make the specified key pointless and virtually nonexistent.

That's generally referred to as jazz.

But when you do it on purpose, it's called heavy metal.

And when you do it on accident and then claim it's on purpose, it's called rock'n'roll.

But if you don't do it at all, it's called crap. ;)

Well, there's

[Hell O'World]

spam eggs sausage and spam...

Re:Implications for copyright?

[gilroy]

de do do do de da da da

That's all I have to say to you.