Neural Correlates of Processing Syntax in Music and ... - PubMan

Music and Language 46
pitch registers (Trehub et al., 1987). For language, children are shown to control some
core features of intonation before they produce two-word combinations (Snow & Balog,
2002). For example, children demonstrate a change in the proportion of their use of
falling vs. rising contours in accordance with the directions in ambient language which
indicates their acquisition of the boundary-marking function of intonation (Snow &
Balog, 2002). Thus, intonation represents the first expressive grammar-like feature that
children use in their single-word utterances. Some core aspects of intonation seem to aid
the perception of structural information (syntax).
Rhythmic organization, the temporal and accentual patterning of sound, is also regarded
as an essential feature of music (Gabrielsson, 1993) and language (Cutler, 1991).
[1] Tempo modulations play a significant role in musical communication (e.g., marking
melodic phrases by a systematic pattern of speeding up and slowing down; Gabrielsson,
1987) as well as in language (e.g., communication of emotion or avoiding interruption;
Murray & Arnott, 1993). [2] Metrical schemata provide listeners or performers with a
stable pattern, and can be regarded as an organizational principle optionally applied
across domains. Rhythm may apply to several domains, such as music, language (e.g.,
for poetry, or in stress-timed languages), and movement (e.g., dance). Some studies
observed a considerable influence of the rhythm of the composer’s language on this of
its compositions (Huron & Ollen, 2003; Patel & Daniele, 2003).
Evidence from some studies demonstrated a marked influence of musical training on
processing of linguistic prosody (for a more detailed overview, see the chapter on “Musical
training”, but see also Magne, Schön, & Besson, 2003; Magne et al., 2006; Moreno
& Besson, 2006; Schön et al., 2004; Thompson et al., 2004). Likewise, some forms
of music therapy exploit this relationship to treat, e.g., aphasics (Jungblut & Aldridge,
2004; Racette, Bard, & Peretz, 2006) or dyslexic children (Overy, 2003). Conversely,
patients with right-hemisphere lesions are impaired in their performance for both, prosody
and music (Patel, Peretz et al., 1998) and in their syntactic processing, likely due to
problems in utilizing prosodic cues for disambiguation (Hoyte, Brownell, Vesely, &
Wingfield, 2006; Hoyte, Kim, Brownell, & Wingfield, 2004).
Brain mechanisms for processing linguistic and musical syntax
Both music and language build upon the ability to infinitely combine perceptual elements
in different ways. This ability seems to be unique to humans (Fitch & Hauser,
2004). However, in addition to such basic similarities, differences exist in the form,
purpose, and use of musical and linguistic syntactic structures: Whereas the rules of
musical syntax apply to two dimensions – horizontal (melody) and vertical (harmony) –
linguistic syntax is primarily a framework for the relations between meaningful symbols