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LEONARD
195
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lyinghumanspeech.8
But Bernstein's belief that "the best way to know a thing is in the
context of another discipline" is, especially in the wrong hands, an
invitation to confusion, if not disaster. The question of transferring
concepts and methodologies from one discipline to another is particularly problematic when contemporary linguistics becomes the
source. Its rationalist foundation and the technical nature of much
of the work have led to misinterpretationand misuse, especially for
many scholars in ancillary disciplines, who view themselvesas more
empirical, data-oriented researchers.Nevertheless, I am not as hesitant, at least with respect to music theory, as Chomsky, who has
issued a rather stringent but necessary warning: "In general, the
6 Charles Rosen, Arnold Schoenberg (New York,
1975), p. 7.
7 See, e.g., Leonard B. Meyer,Music, the Arts and Ideas: Patterns and Predictions
in Twentieth-Century
Culture, Pt. III, (Chicago, 1967),esp. pp. 235-44,287-93.
8 P. 7.
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problem of extending concepts of linguistic structureto other cognitive systemsseems to me, for the moment, in not too promising
a state, although it is no doubt too early for pessimism."' It is unfortunate,however,that,forall of the enthusiasmand often valuable
musical insights of Bernstein, his Norton Lectures cannot be considered a well-conceived or rigorous contribution to this kind of
interdisciplinarystudy. It would be tedious to hold up for scrutiny
the inconsistency,faultyargument,and emptyterminological morass
that characterizes large parts of Bernstein's lectures. But certainly
the attention they have received and the misconceptions they are
likely to create if taken too seriouslyor followed too closely warrant
discussion. Moreover, it would be a disservice to Bernstein's aim not
to give some indication of the insights that are possible in music
theoryand analysis froma cautious application of certain theoretical
and formalaspects of linguistics.1'
II
Much of the work in contemporarylinguisticsis based on certain
fundamental theoretical premises, and some discussion of these is
necessaryboth foran understandingof the limits of Bernstein's work
and as a starting point for further inquiry into the usefulness of
linguistic procedures for problems of music theory." The most basic
distinction that underlies linguistic research is that of competence
and performance,the distinction between what is known and how
it is used. Linguistic competence refersto that internalized systemof
rules that can be thought of as a characterization of the linguistic
9 Noam Chomsky,Language. and Mind, enl. ed. (New York, 1972),p. 75.
10The linguisticinterlude that follows is necessarilybrief,and must be concerned
only with those concepts and issues that will come up again during the course of
this essay. For readers who wish to consult some works in linguisticsI suggest: Ronald
W. Langacker, Language and Its Structure (New York, 1968); Emmon Bach, Syntactic
Theory (New York, 1974); and Noam Chomsky,op. cit.
11It is unfortunatethat Bernstein leaves the reader with no idea of the extent
of the research in the area of language and music. A useful summary of some of
this research can be found in Jean-Jacques Nattiez, "S6miologie musicale: l'etat de
la question," Acta Musicologica, XLVI (1974), 153-71. To this should be added my
"Syntax of Prolongation," Pt. I, In Theory Only, III/5 (1978), and Pt. II (forth"Toward a Formal Theory of Tonal
coming); and Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff,
Music," Journalof Music Theory (forthcoming).
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Bernstein'sThe UnansweredQuestion
199
eager to please
teasy
eager
John -is-
easy
John-is-
-to please
eas
eager
John-is-
eas
to please
-to-please
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The MusicalQuarterly
200
Sentence
(3)
Noun Phrase(NP)
VerbPhrase(VP)
Noun
Verb
John
is
Adjectivephrase
Adj.
Infinitive
phrase
easyeager
Seager~
to
please
please -
John must be
(6)
NP
VP
v
Sentence
NP
N
Mary
is
VP
V
please
adjective
easy
NP
I
N
John
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Bernstein'sThe UnansweredQuestion
201
The unacceptability of (7) can be explained in terms of deep structures like (6), where sentences with the verb to be plus adjective
that contain one of a small class of adjectives like easy require an
entire proposition or complete sentence structure as the NP. Sentences like (7) do not occur, in other words, because the deep structure object of the embedded sentence (John) cannot occur without
the verb phrase of that embedded sentence. The transformational
rules that map structureslike (6) onto structureslike (3) would include the optional deletion of the deep structureembedded sentence
subject, the promotion of the deep structureobject to the principle
NP position, and the reassignment of the embedded VP as a constituent of the adjective. The result of these transformationsis to
create a surface formfor (2) that is ambiguous with that of (1).
The distinction between deep and surface structurethat underlies syntacticanalysis is also related to important differencesin the
other components that make up linguistic competence, the semantic
and phonological components. The semantic component is a system
of rules that convertsthe deep structureof a sentence into a semantic
interpretation that expresses the intrinsic meaning of a sentence.
Semantic interpretationrequires the explicit syntacticrepresentation
of the deep structure as a basis for representing meaning. Such a
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202
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III
Now you can see why I became so excited when I began reading the new
linguistics,which postulatedthe notion of innate grammaticalcompetence.Because suddenlymy old undergraduatenotion of a universal musical grammar
was reanimated.It had lain dormant for years,paralyzed,I suppose, by that
deadly cliche: Music is the UniversalLanguage of Mankind. .... But then,when
I began reading the new linguistics,I thought:here is a freshway to pursue
my intuitiveidea, whichhad grownstale and had deterioratedinto a platitude.
In otherwords,by buildinganalogies betweenmusicaland linguisticprocedures,
couldn't thatclicheabout the UniversalLanguage be debunkedor confirmed,
or
at leastclarified?13
12
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as either permissible variants of them,or as representationsof different prototypes or formulas. The need for and choice of formulas
belong to the area of musical performance,and are imposed by the
demands of transmission,suitabilityof text,short-termmemory,and
many other factors.Similarityand divergence must be related, rather,
to a more abstract concept of musical competence in which constraintson permissible surface formsare defined by a grammar with
properties of rule specificationand application. The latter, in turn,
is only one of the featuresthat affectsthe choice of either an oftenused formula, or permissible novelty in any given context.16 A note
of warning is necessaryhere as well. The problem of definingmusical
competence reflected in dead musical repertories entails many of
the same difficultiesthat affectthe description of extinct languages.
What is absent in both cases is, of course, native intuitions about
whether proposed grammars make the right generalizations about
given examples. Since in both cases the corpus of available examples
is in many instances only a highly selective and constrained one, and
often for the most accidental of reasons, a choice between alternatively proposed abstract accounts of the data may not even be possible. Imagine, for example, the difficultiesin tryingto arrive at the
grammar of English sentence structureif only imperative sentences
existed as the available corpus. In a similar way, the musical competence reflected,say, in chant repertories may give a very imperfect
and skewed indication of a much richerbut no longer reconstructible
grammar.
Bernstein, in the firstthree lectures of the Norton series, has
sketched out a theoryof musical competence, or at least an approach
to one. He bases these chapters on the componential division of
generative grammar,hence the succession (1) musical phonology, (2)
musical syntax,and (3) musical semantics. His point of departure is
thus analogical: "Why not a study of musico-linguistics,just as there
already exists a psycho-linguisticsand a socio-linguistics?"17But the
very equations established here betray a false start.Psycholinguistics
16 The distinction of competence and performance,although not discussed in
these terms,is already implied in Albert B. Lord, The Singer of Tales (New York,
1965), in relation to the transmissionof oral epic poetry.In the area of chant classification, see especially Leo Treitler, "Homer and Gregory: the Transmission of Epic
Poetry and Plainchant," The Musical Quarterly,LX (1974), 333-72; and " 'Centonate'
Chant: Uebles Flickwerkor E pluribus unus?", Journal of the American Musicological
Society,XXVIII (1975), 1-23.
17 The UnansweredQuestion, p. 9.
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207
and sociolinguistics are behavioral disciplines and are thus concerned with language performance; that is, they take as a point of
departure some theory of language competence and attempt to define factorswhich, in conjunction with the internalized knowledge
of some language system,contribute to language behavior, whether
in termsof the neurological and cognitive mechanisms of the human
organism or in terms of sociological factors. Musicolinguistics is
based on a false equation; any theory of musical competence will
itselfneed to be implemented in behavioral terms from psychological, sociological, and many other behavioral perspectives. It is a
dangerous and usually trivial business to attempt to find analogues
of theoretical properties intrinsicto one discipline for another. The
motivations which have led linguists to establish phonology, syntax,
and semantics as components of a theory of language competence,
and the precise formal and substantive interrelations among these
components, are the result of analytic problems and solutions that
relate specifically to the study of language. Any meaningful crossdisciplinaryreferencethat this conceptual frameworkmay have with
music can come only after considerable independent research into
the problems defined intrinsically as musical. To begin with the
assumption that they are true for music as well, and then to search
for their equivalents, will inevitably make a mysteryof issues that
ought to be properly musical. The evidence for cross-disciplinary
relationships of this kind has to be established independently, so
that such generalizations have the proper theoretical and evidential
support within the discipline fromwhich theyarise.
Bernstein's search for musical analogies with linguistics, especially in the form of universals, is for the most part unrewarding.
Let us consider firstthe lecture on musical phonology. The one
point that emerges from it is that tonalitymust be somehow related
- and thereby vindicated - to the innate
capacity of the human
Bernstein
does
understand
that
in
organism.
linguistics innate cais
a
of
pacity explained by theory language competence or linguistic
universals. It is therefore not very surprising that he adduces the
appeal to nature, in the formof the overtone series, dressed up with
pseudolinguistic arguments. He makes two proposals for (musical)
phonological universals. The firstis that the notes which make up
the various musical scales used throughout the world are derived
fromthe natural overtone series. This, of course, has to be supported
by the broadest sleight-of-handsince, as we have all finallycome to
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210
is the next unit [10]. A fine word. But here again the analogy breaks down,
because the last note of the firstword; as played by the strings [I 1], also functions
as the firstnote of the second word, as played by the woodwinds [12], which is
linguistically impossible. It's as though one said the words "dead duck" with the
ll
[91[10
ffr1
I ft1
I|l I |
[12)
kfI
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212
(a)
(b)
CruelFate
(c)
Waltztempo
Jack
loves
Jill
Jack loves Jill
IV
I must leave the reader with some understandingof what can be
gained from linguistics in the study of music. Reference has been
made to many possible fruitfulpoints of contact between the two
disciplines. In this section I want to outline more systematicallythe
kind of insight that one might achieve in the study of musical com-
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213
petence from theoretical work in linguistics. The study of competence, musical or linguistic, can only begin with the attempt to find
solutions to analytic problems. Indeed, the verynature of an analytic
problem may be clarified only when developed in terms of some
explicit formallanguage of description.
Within the language of tonal music, one kind of structural description that must find a place in a theory of musical competence
is concerned with the functional relationships of harmony, or the
syntax of harmonic prolongation. The starting point in this problem is the realization that the concept of harmonic function has
still not been given formal clarity. It is usually set in contrast
with that of chord grammar,or traditional Roman-numeral analysis.
Chord grammar is concerned with the isolation and labeling of
vertical pitch collections according to scale degree, inversion, etc.,
but independently of context. Chord function is concerned with the
relative hierarchical status of chords. As Salzer has put it, "Two
grammatically identical chords appearing in the same phrase can
fulfilltotallydifferentfunctions.Thus it follows that labeling chords
according to their grammatical status never explains their functions
or how they combine to create a unified whole."25 In Example 3,
the firstdominant chord (V6) has only passing status, apparent in
the melodic motion of both soprano and bass, while the second dominant chord has a more structurallyimportant function as the goal
of harmonic motion.
Ex.3
V6 I
V I
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214
Ex.4
(a)
(b)
II
(c)
V6 I
116 V
116
(c)
Ex. 5
(a)(b).Tonic
A
V
(TTonic
(TP)
AProlongation
o
Tonic (T)
IV
IV
Completion(TC)
Dominant
Prolongation
vv
Dominant(D)
Tonic (T)
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215
(b)(c)
TC
.Tp%
I
1V
II
I
V
V
II
l(6
(b)
1I
L-
V6 1
L
I
V I
T
"
-TPT
T
VI
DP
TCTC
T
DP
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TC
TC1
TP1
TP2
TC
TC2
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"I'IF
II
dl
III
IIA
U
I3
UIJV~
I
I.
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218
not resolve properly; the leading tone moves downward chromatically rather than to the root of a following tonic triad.
Ex.9
TC
DPTP
T
TC
DP (T)
v6
v2/lv Ir6 v
The correctclaim about these two versions,I think,is that both are
manifestations of the same syntactic harmonic relationships: the
firstversion is, in other words, a transformationof a set of syntactic
properties more directly or isomorphically realized in the second
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-- --TP-----,Tc
T
TP
TC
DP
D
\VI
V
/V
IV
T
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The MusicalQuarterly
220
Ex. 13
T (mm.5-8)
TP
TP
T
TC
DP
~TC
DP
AI .4v
i
-I----
A.9
r
----
mm.1-4)
TP
T
TP
DP-
TC
DP
D
D T
TC
maj.:IV
A maj.:1V
T (mm.5-8)
TP
TC
TP
V
VI
II
Fi
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