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In Search of Meaning: Study on Relation of Language and Music in Works of Russian Scientists

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Language, Music, and Computing (LMAC 2015)

Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 561))

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Abstract

The article explores the problem of meaning perception in music. It gives a short review of the main issues discussed in Russian studies on relation of language and music. The paper deals with the experimental data of a sample case study. The data of associative and semantic differential experiment shows that understanding of the meaning of music depends on how familiar listener is with the music. A well-known melody is a part of the world’s image, having a specific place in the conceptual system, thus, the meaning of its cognitive frame [30] is used. On the other hand, if the musical fragment does not belong to a frame, its perception is limited to its emotional impact which is perceived as its meaning.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Furthermore, studies of intonation structure of different languages show that perception of phrase intonation of the unknown language is different from that of native speakers [26].

  2. 2.

    Hereinafter by musical background we mean not only attending special educational institutions or learning how to play a musical instrument, but a habit to listen to the music from the very childhood.

  3. 3.

    First tries to create such dictionaries date back to XVII–XVIII, when rhetoric figures and affects expression dictionaries were created, for example: Musurgia universalis by A. Kircher (1650), Musikalisches Lexikon by I.G. Valter (1732) [15].

  4. 4.

    Cf. the concept musical-communication archetypes, which are “some basic forms of musical meaning related to protointonation form of music, which represent the initial level of musical meaning perception which is based on a range of non-special non-discrete musical means” [22: 123].

  5. 5.

    The associations of thematic group PATRIOTISM for the melody No. 6 - victory, parade, etc. – are also connected with thematic group WAR, but they refer to the positive emotions, while the associations for the pieces No. 4 and 10 – fight, attack, etc. – are aggressive and negative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, Saint Petersburg, Russia

    Polina Eismont

  2. Saint Petersburg State Conservatoire, Saint Petersburg, Russia

    Natalia Degtyareva

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  1. Polina Eismont
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Correspondence to Polina Eismont .

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  1. Saint Petersburg State University of Aerospace Instrumentation, St. Petersburg, Russia

    Polina Eismont

  2. University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom

    Natalia Konstantinova

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Eismont, P., Degtyareva, N. (2015). In Search of Meaning: Study on Relation of Language and Music in Works of Russian Scientists. In: Eismont, P., Konstantinova, N. (eds) Language, Music, and Computing. LMAC 2015. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 561. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27498-0_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27498-0_2

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