Let’s ask: Is music a universal language? Yes, music is an universal language. At least that’s what the musicians claim. Through music, he can communicate across cultural and linguistic boundaries.
On one level, this statement is undoubtedly true. You don’t have to know French to enjoy a composition by Debussy. But is music really a universal language? It depends on what you mean by ‘universal’ and ‘language’. Every human culture has music, just as it has a language. It is true, therefore, that music is a universal feature of human experience.
At the same time, both musical and language systems differ greatly from culture to culture. In fact, foreign music systems may not even sound like music. However, studies show that people are quite good at perceiving the emotions conveyed in foreign musical phrases; at least in two basic emotions like happiness and sadness. The specific features of the melody contribute to the emotional expression of the music.
Fluctuations in high pitch, rhythm and fast tempo convey happiness, while the opposite reflects unhappiness. Probably, every person has an innate musical sense. But language also has a melody, and linguists call it meter. Almost the same factors, such as rhythm and tempo, are also used to convey the sense of speech in a way that seems universal across languages. Listen to a dialogue in a language you don’t know, such as French or Japanese.
Even if you cannot understand the content, you will realize that you can understand the changing moods. We notice these changes in a foreign language because they sound just like our own. Likewise, when we listen to a piece of music, we can distinguish the emotion in basic melodies from our own or another culture that imitate universal meter. In this sense, music is truly a universal system for communicating emotion.
But is music a kind of language? Again we have to define terms. In everyday life, ‘language’ is often used to mean a communication system. And there is also body language; Use it to convey social status and emotions, such as postures, gestures, movements, and facial expressions. Although we often use body language when we speak, linguists do not consider it a true form of language.
Like language, music has syntax like notes, chords, rests. Yet these elements alone make no sense. On the contrary, this great structure – the melody – carries emotional meaning. And it does this by imitating the meter in speech. With music and language having so much in common, it should come as no surprise that many parts of the brain that process language also process music. But that doesn’t mean music is a language.
Part of the misunderstanding comes from our thinking that certain areas of the brain have specific functions. However, any complex behavior takes place with the contribution of many different brain regions. Music is certainly not a universal language in the sense that anyone on the planet can use it to express any thought. But at its core, music is powerful enough to trigger deep shared primal feelings. It not only blends cultures but also reaches deep into our evolutionary past. And in that sense, music is truly an universal language.
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