who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ... who asked the first question? - International Research Center For ...

10.07.2015 Views

376children are much ahead of their Japanese counterparts in the acquisition of vocabulary.This difference has its social background: “...American mothers are inclined to verballylabel the parts of toys their children play with; at 19 months, American babies havenearly twice the vocabulary of their Japanese counterparts” (Shweder, 1993:59). As forthe enigmatic and totally neglected differences in the age of acquisition of a phonologicalsystem, I think this could be the result of innate differences between the East Asian andEuropean populations. A study of other East Asian and African populations could becrucial in this context.From Polyphony to Monophony:Belated Appendix to the “Case Studies #2 and #3”The disappearance of the tradition of vocal polyphony, suggested in theconclusions of the case studies #2 and #3 was extremely long, multi-century and multimillenniaprocess, no question about that. This process started after the articulated speechentered human evolution and transformed not only the supralaryngeal tract, thebasicranium, and human facial details, but affected the whole set of social relationshipsand the efficiency of human communication. Speech must have been a main reasonbehind marginalization of pitch communication and gradual decline of human musicalabilities. This section of the book discusses the dynamics of the gradual disappearanceof the vocal polyphonic tradition. Despite the hypothetical nature of this reconstructionit can be thought-stimulating.• Starting point is the archaic Homo sapiens society, where the speech has not yetbeen established as a leading medium of human language (this population is also knownas Homo erectus). Plenty of social activities in this society are based on singing:everyday communication, ritual singing, establishment and maintaining social bonds,avoiding conflicts, defending themselves from predators and obtaining food. Everyoneparticipates in musical activities and there is no division of society on the performers andthe listeners. Struggle for survival favors individuals with a good musical ear, good soundproduction and good sense of rhythm. Most (or even all) members of the society haveperfect pitch.• Articulated speech enters human social life as a much more efficient medium oflanguage. More elaborate ideas are communicated through the new medium (speech).Singing is marginalized from several of its important functions – everydaycommunication (almost completely), establishing and maintaining social bonds andavoiding conflicts (partially). Ritual singing, and possibly defensive and food-obtainingfunctions are maintained. Since the emergence of articulated speech struggle for survivalwithin human groups favors individuals with good articulation. Musical ear and goodsound production starts to decline. Number of individuals with perfect pitch is declining.Members of human societies are communicating via articulated speech, although the rateof speech pathologies (like stuttering) is very high.

377• As the process of the decline of good musical ear and good sound productiongoes on, some members of society stop participating in singing activities. Number ofpeople who do not participate in singing is growing as the time goes by. People withgood articulations are becoming leaders and are socially more accepted. The prevalenceof stuttering is further decreasing. People with good musical ear sing and entertain thosewho can hear and appreciate musical sounds, but cannot sing in tune themselves. Thosewho do not sing, form a new group of society – group of listeners. Division on society onperformers and listeners is born. Elements of professionalism appear.• People still sing in groups (particularly in rituals, where mass participation isbelieved to have a magic power), but as the decline of precise sound production, goodmusical ear and the sense of rhythm goes on, it is increasingly difficult to sing as wellcoordinatedand tight group. People gradually abandon singing different parts and startfollowing the main melody. Unison and heterophonic texture is on rise. Polyphonicelements are survived only in the cadencial sections of songs.• In this process of losing parts of polyphonic songs, new monophonic versions ofpolyphonic songs are born, where in the single melodic line the elements of differentparts are united. This phenomenon can be observed very often (even today) when aperson from a polyphonic culture tries to sing alone, without co-singers.• In the process of the decline of musical ear and well-coordinated grouppolyphonic singing traditions, new type of musical instrument – double (triple,quadruple) blown instruments are on the rise. Some processes that were traditionallyaccompanied by group singing are now accompanied by individual singing. Some goeswithout singing at all. Some goes with the instrumental accompaniment.• Individuals with good musical ear are appreciated in society as good singers andmusicians. They become semi-professionals who are still involved in animal husbandryor agricultural processes but have some additional income from their musical activity aswell. As time goes by, some talented individuals manage to lead a life as full-timemusicians.• As the process goes on, monophonic singing becomes the only form of singing.Polyphonic elements in cadences are also lost. Double blown instruments stay formallydouble, but turn into unison instruments with the same length of the pipes and samenumber of holes. Full-time musicians start developing musical instruments, making themmore virtuoso, start going beyond the sounds and try to create a theory of music.Tractates about music are born. Performances of highly trained performers are listened bythe rest of the population. Competition between full-time musicians is on rise. The socialmodel “one performer – many listeners” is in full swing, although some processes (likeritual singing, or agricultural works) might be still accompanied by group (unison orheterophonic) singing. Long process of evolution favoring individuals with goodarticulation causes further reduction of the number of individuals with stuttering andother speech-related pathologies.

377• As <strong>the</strong> process of <strong>the</strong> decline of good musical ear and good sound productiongoes on, some members of society stop participating in singing activities. Number ofpeople <strong>who</strong> do not participate in singing is growing as <strong>the</strong> time goes by. People withgood articulations are becoming leaders and are socially more accepted. The prevalenceof stuttering is fur<strong>the</strong>r decreasing. People with good musical ear sing and entertain those<strong>who</strong> can hear and appreciate musical sounds, but cannot sing in tune <strong>the</strong>mselves. Those<strong>who</strong> do not sing, form a new group of society – group of listeners. Division on society onperformers and listeners is born. Elements of professionalism appear.• People still sing in groups (particularly in rituals, where mass participation isbelieved to have a magic power), but as <strong>the</strong> decline of precise sound production, goodmusical ear and <strong>the</strong> sense of rhythm goes on, it is increasingly difficult to sing as wellcoordinatedand tight group. People gradually abandon singing different parts and startfollowing <strong>the</strong> main melody. Unison and heterophonic texture is on rise. Polyphonicelements are survived only in <strong>the</strong> cadencial sections of songs.• In this process of losing parts of polyphonic songs, new monophonic versions ofpolyphonic songs are born, where in <strong>the</strong> single melodic line <strong>the</strong> elements of differentparts are united. This phenomenon can be observed very often (even today) when aperson from a polyphonic culture tries to sing alone, without co-singers.• In <strong>the</strong> process of <strong>the</strong> decline of musical ear and well-coordinated grouppolyphonic singing traditions, new type of musical instrument – double (triple,quadruple) blown instruments are on <strong>the</strong> rise. Some processes that were traditionallyaccompanied by group singing are now accompanied by individual singing. Some goeswithout singing at all. Some goes with <strong>the</strong> instrumental accompaniment.• Individuals with good musical ear are appreciated in society as good singers andmusicians. They become semi-professionals <strong>who</strong> are still involved in animal husbandryor agricultural processes but have some additional income from <strong>the</strong>ir musical activity aswell. As time goes by, some talented individuals manage to lead a life as full-timemusicians.• As <strong>the</strong> process goes on, monophonic singing becomes <strong>the</strong> only form of singing.Polyphonic elements in cadences are also lost. Double blown instruments stay formallydouble, but turn into unison instruments with <strong>the</strong> same length of <strong>the</strong> pipes and samenumber of holes. Full-time musicians start developing musical instruments, making <strong>the</strong>mmore virtuoso, start going beyond <strong>the</strong> sounds and try to create a <strong>the</strong>ory of music.Tractates about music are born. Performances of highly trained performers are listened by<strong>the</strong> rest of <strong>the</strong> population. Competition between full-time musicians is on rise. The socialmodel “one performer – many listeners” is in full swing, although some processes (likeritual singing, or agricultural works) might be still accompanied by group (unison orheterophonic) singing. Long process of evolution favoring individuals with goodarticulation causes fur<strong>the</strong>r reduction of <strong>the</strong> number of individuals with stuttering ando<strong>the</strong>r speech-related pathologies.

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