LMAC 2015: Language, Music, and Computing pp 140-165 | Cite as

A Linguistic Approach to the Syntax of Early Music: Representation of the Hexachord System by X-Bar Method as an Excavation Tool

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

Abstract

In their pioneering Generative Theory of Tonal Music (1983, ‘GTTM’), Lerdahl and Jackendoff attempted to apply Chomsky’s Transformational Generative Theory method to music, with the aim of explaining the musical structures as a language. Their insight has been further developed by Katz and Pesetsky’s “Identity Thesis” within the framework of the Minimalist Program of linguistics. While those studies are concerned with the “common practice” period in music, the aim of the present study is to point out that while GTTM and Identity Thesis are genuine approaches to music in tonal tradition, they do not address the issue of early periods (pre-tonal period). To answer this question, this study uses Generative Theory’s X-Bar approach to analyze “early music” repertoires and associate it with Foucault’s archaeological approach to the historical documents. It proposes hierarchical relationships within the intervals of hexachord system as an approach to the theory of early music and applies its output to the “Annus Novus versus” of Aquitanian Polyphony.

Keywords

Archaeology of knowledge Linguistics Generative theory X-Bar Early music Hexachord system Gamut Deep structure Surface structure 
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Notes

Acknowledgment

To my dear mother and sister, thanks to you for always standing behind on my decisions and I am grateful to my dear professors Paul Whitehead in Historical Musicology and A. Sumru Özsoy in Linguistics. If there had not been their guidance and intellects, this study would not exceed a threshold of a positivity but marks time in its myths.

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.ITU/MIAM (Dr. Erol Ucer Centre for Advanced Studies in Music)ITU Macka KampusuIstanbulTurkey

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