Musical Vocabulary and Phonology

By Ezra Sandzer-Bell

Human physiology is the key to understanding origins of inborn musical grammar, according to Noam Chomsky. The mouth, throat, and nose cavities of our species consistently produce recognizable phonemes, small units of sound that animate and inform our vocabulary, and these biological constants are connected to humanity’s drive to create and listen to music.

In the English language, we find countless examples of how sound informs the meaning of a word. For example, if one’s voice glides upwards at the end of a sentence, we understand that the speaker is asking a question.

“There’s a lion in the driveway?”
“There’s a lion in the driveway.”

In the second statement, the word “driveway” would be pronounced with a falling pitch. The listener would understand that the speaker was making a declaration, rather than asking a question. The difference between these two sentences is a matter of phonology.

Like the English language, Western music has its own kind of vocabulary and syntax called Tonal Harmony. Combinations of notes are analyzed in terms of chord names. Melodies are formed with consideration for the laws of voice leading and songs structure. All of this falls into the category of analysis. It is only when written music is performed as an audible event that phonology enters the arena.

Musical phonology is elusive and at least partially subject to the interpretation of the listener. It may be necessary to study the composer’s background and personal life to fully understand the “meaning” of different passages. However, an attentive listener can usually make sense of what they are hearing based on prior listening experiences and intuition.

Chomsky proposed that humankind was blessed with an innate comprehension of musical grammar, due to the natural evolution of phonetic communication over time.