Tonal Languages & Music

Language and music are processed primarily in the same part of the brain: the frontal lobe. It is here that we synthesize both words, sentences, and melodies. Almost every language makes use of intonation, the use of pitch during speech. Pitch is also a central element of music, so it makes sense that language and music have some psychological ties. In fact, some linguists refer to intonation as the “music” of speech. You might’ve been told by a superior to “watch your tone,” but communicating emotions or feelings is not the only way we make use of pitch. In English, take the sentences, “You own a cow.” This is a statement, and as such, it is read in a relatively flat intonation, with a small drop at the end. But, “You own a cow?,” is pronounced with a rising intonation, spiking at the end. Even more extremely, “You own a cow?!” is pronounced with with a much higher rise in pitch. As you can see, tone has an integral job to do in an interaction.

But, many languages are what we call “tonal languages;” they make use of tone to change the lexical meaning of words. To understand how tone could dictate meaning, we have to look at minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are words or segments that are the same except for one difference. This could be a vocalic, consonantal, stress, or tonal difference. In English, many nouns and verbs are exactly the same, the only difference being a shift in stress. Convict the convict is a good example. Just as bat and bit only differ by one feature (a different vowel), tone can be used as a distinguishing element. Ma in Mandarin can have four separate meanings, depending on the pitch (or pitch contour) at which it is said. "Mama ma ma” means, “Mom is scolding the horse,” and the only indicator that the words are discrete is the use of tone. This might seem so odd to English or French or Russian speakers, but in fact, up to 70% of the world’s languages are tonal! Indo-European languages are the minority in not being tonal.

So this begs the question, if tone is important to understanding the meaning of a word or utterance in tonal languages, what is the relationship between lyrical melodies and the music of the lyrics themselves? Surely, a melody would be dictated by the underlying pitches of the words that are sung along to it, right? Well, this seems to not be the case.

If someone was trying to sing the (completely meaningless) lyrics, “A person why stay endured due to a day have introduced a knife and a print,” in Cantonese, “Jat jan jan jat jat jan jat jan jat jan ji jan,” they would have a problem. But, this is a nonsensical sentence in both languages. Minimal pairs are often different parts of speech, or if they aren’t, it probably isn’t particularly hard to guess which word the speaker is trying to use. In Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” she seems to say something closer to “I fill love,” but we understand what word she is trying to say. We probably would even if the song wasn’t called what it is. After all, singing forces us to change the way we pronounce our words sometimes; there is a reason why ooh’s and oh’s and ah’s are more popular in songs than in speech. There is an important factor in all of this: context.

Most languages with a few tones just bypass tone altogether when singing. Every form of singing, from religious chants to contemporary pop, might ignore tone for the sake of the greater musical melody. It might seem that it would be confusing to understand certain words based solely on context if they are usually distinguishable. Think about them as being like homophones. In English, we have many words that are pronounced the same but are orthographically and lexically different. Won and one, red and read, pond and pawned, matter and madder. We understand by context alone which word someone is trying to use, even if sometimes this causes some confusion. Their, there, they’re is a perfect example. Singers and listeners in tonal languages would run into the same problem that we run into here as English speakers.

This doesn’t mean that tonal languages never attempt to preserve the pitch patterns of the underlying lyrics. A language with many tones or a large amount of minimal pairs might require this in order to keep the meaning clear. Zulu and Cantonese are some of these languages. A study of lyrical music in these languages showed that 92% of the tones had been preserved. There could be a grace note put in place in order to make this possible, or the song might be constructed in order to account for it from the beginning. It should also be noted that some types of songs could be more likely to follow tonal patterns than others. In Chinese, children’s songs are much more likely to preserve tone. In Thai, songs used as mnemonics show a high correspondence with their underlying tones. This makes sense as both of these are forms of educational songs that are used to teach or remember something.

However, just because tonal languages might ignore tones when it comes to music does not mean that there is not a relationship between speakers of these languages and music. Studies have shown that people who fluently speak tonal languages are much better at distinguishing pitch in music. They are more adept at hearing minute differences between musical notes, and they are far more likely to develop perfect pitch. Why is this? There are many theories bouncing around, but it probably leads back to the brain. As noted above, music and language get processed in the same part of our minds. If the “music” of language is simply an element of it, maybe the two have a deep connection or maybe they hold hands in one way or another. For the speaker of a tonal language, the pitch patterns are essential to speaking; tone is important not only to the accent, but to being understood.

So much of life is about association. We know what we are surrounded by, but it takes a little while to build an attachment to those surroundings and build the habits until they feel natural. It is the reason why you had to try so hard to memorize those vocabulary words in fifth grade or why you probably don’t know many of your friend’s cellphone numbers by heart. Tonal language speakers are surrounded by music everyday when they talk to their families or coworkers or friends. They have established musical habits that benefit them when trying to learn an instrument or the notes in a scale. They won’t have perfect pitch from birth, but they are conditioned to think about tone in a way that is necessary to communicate.

Some would even say that music is a form of communication. As social beings, I’d argue that most things we do are.