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Music Perception

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Speech, Song, and the Minor Third
An Acoustic Study of the Stylized Interjection
Jeremy Day-O’Connell
Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 30 No. 5, December 2012; (pp. 441-462) DOI: 10.1525/mp.2013.30.5.441
Jeremy Day-O’Connell
Knox College
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Abstract

This paper describes the first laboratory study of an idiosyncratic linguistic form that represents a crucial point of contact between speech and song: what is referred to here as the stylized interjection. The stylized interjection, as described throughout the musicological and linguistic literature, is associated with a particular intonational formula—the calling contour—and intriguingly, with a purportedly cross-cultural musical fingerprint: the interval of the minor third. A reading task was used to systematically compare the stylized interjection to four other linguistic forms, and to compare spoken to called production. Analysis of several acoustic variables (involving pitch, duration, intensity, and timbre) demonstrates many significant effects of sentence-type and production, which together establish the characteristics of the English stylized interjection and suggest its interpretation as sung speech. The unique sound-meaning correspondence of the stylized interjection is thereby elucidated. Implications for music-language studies (especially vis-a-vis the minor third) are also discussed.

  • music and language
  • minor third interval
  • calling contour
  • speech intonation
  • universals
  • Received January 2, 2012.
  • Accepted August 7, 2012.
  • © 2013 by The Regents of the University of California

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Vol. 30 No. 5, December 2012

Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal: 30 (5)
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Speech, Song, and the Minor Third
An Acoustic Study of the Stylized Interjection
Jeremy Day-O’Connell
Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 30 No. 5, December 2012; (pp. 441-462) DOI: 10.1525/mp.2013.30.5.441
Jeremy Day-O’Connell
Knox College
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Speech, Song, and the Minor Third
An Acoustic Study of the Stylized Interjection
Jeremy Day-O’Connell
Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 30 No. 5, December 2012; (pp. 441-462) DOI: 10.1525/mp.2013.30.5.441
Jeremy Day-O’Connell
Knox College
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site
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