Although music and language are present in every human society, until now the similarities and differences between spoken language, songs and instrumental compositions had not been analytically compared.

A new international study involving 75 researchers from 46 countries, including a team from Sapienza University of Rome, analysed the relationships between words, songs and instrumental music in different cultures around the world and found that, with rare exceptions, the rhythms of songs and instrumental melodies are slower than those of speech, while the frequencies of music are higher and more stable.

According to the study, published in Science Advances, this difference could have a social explanation: the greater regularity of singing promotes synchronisation and thus social bonding, for example through choral singing in large groups. The ultimate aim is to shed light on the cultural and biological evolution of two typically human systems, language and music.

Using academic networks for global reach, researchers in Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe and the Pacific were recruited to sing, play instrumental pieces, recite lyrics and describe songs, providing audio samples to be analysed for characteristics such as pitch, timbre and rhythm. Participants' languages included Italian, Flemish, Yoruba, Mandarin, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Ukrainian, Russian, Balinese, Cherokee, Kannada, Spanish and Aynu, with a total of 55 languages represented. In the Sapienza team, Andrea Ravignani played his tenor saxophone and sang in Italian, while Yannick Jadoul played the piano and sang in Flemish.

"It is amazing to see researchers from the social sciences, humanities and natural sciences working together on a common goal, each providing a piece of the puzzle according to their own expertise", says Andrea Ravignani.

The audio samples collected were digitally analysed and confirmed several previously formulated hypotheses: compared to speech, singing uses a higher and more stable pitch and a slower rhythm, while the two languages are equivalent in terms of intervals between different pitches and brilliance of timbre. 

"This research demonstrates the potential of combining advanced computational methods for acoustic analysis, one of my areas of research, with the irreplaceable knowledge of the humanities and social sciences," says Yannick Jadoul.

References:

Globally, songs and instrumental melodies are slower and higher and use more stable pitches than speech: A Registered Report. Yuto Ozaki, Adam Tierney et al. - Science Advancements – doi 10.1126/sciadv.adm9797

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