Tone of Voice and Mind : The Connections between Intonation ...

Musical interlude 85
less of their possible inversion), these two directions correspond precisely with
the major and minor modes of resolution known from music theory. This remarkable
pattern is implicit in traditional music theory, but it is hidden from
view if the focus is on resolution, rather than on the most salient aspect of
3-tone chords harmonic tension.
What still requires an explanation, however, is why minor is “dark” and
major is “bright,” and not vice versa. The traditional “cognitive” answer is simply
that it is an ingrained musical tradition from which anyone raised in the
modern world cannot escape. Why minor is “sad” and major is “happy” is, in
that view, a matter of Saussurian chance or perhaps a consequence of the major
third being “more natural” (and therefore “happier”?) because it is found
among the upper partials of the tonic, whereas the minor third is not. That line
of argumentation is clearly speculative, but it is thoroughly unsatisfactory in
so far as it implies that there is no inherent, intrinsic, psychoacoustic difference
in the mood of major versus minor chords. Music theoreticians may have
conceptual motivations for thinking that major and minor moods are nothing
more than frozen accidents, but the theoretician’s argument is perceptually far
from convincing if pairs of major and minor chords are played in succession.
To most people, it is clear that a minor chord (e.g., CD#G) followed by a related
major chord (e.g., CEG) brings quite a different mood from the reverse
sequence. To deny that is to deny the senses – truly a nonsensical argument.
Theoreticians will wave their arms and say it is simply not true – and that all
experimental support using naïve subjects is nothing more than a consequence
of cultural indoctrination! But, whatever the source of this widespread “bias,”
it is certainly an empirical fact and needs to be explained.
Surprisingly, a plausible answer comes from a field within linguistics
known as sound-symbolism, rather than from music psychology. Quite unrelated
to music theory, Ohala (1984, 1994; and earlier, Morton 1977) noted
that there is a cross-species “sound symbolism” of animal calls: an increase in
vocal pitch is indicative of inferior social status and submission, whereas a decrease
in vocal pitch is indicative of superior social status and dominance. They
related this phenomenon to the well-known cross-cultural tendency in human
languages to use rising F0 in yes/no questions, and falling F0 in statements (for
further discussion, see Bolinger 1978; Cruttendon 1981, 1997; for details of
changes in F0 in a study comparing matched statements and questions, see
Eady & Cooper 1986). The “social message” of such pitch changes has been
characterized as “deference, politeness, submission and lack of confidence” for
the questioning individual using a rising pitch intonation, and “assertiveness,