Opening symposium 2008-2009
What is the origin of our species' unique ability to give meaning to the expression of acoustic signals ? Speech and music shape social cognition by sharing emotional states, intentions, symbols and cultures. Why and how did these communication systems emerge in the course of evolution ? Darwin invoked the musical transformation of the voice under the effect of emotion, and saw the production of these sounds as an intermediate stage in the acquisition of spoken language. Does this mean that there are kinships between the sounds emitted and processed by the two systems ? Can we speak of a musical language ? Or should we agree with Wagner that music begins where the power of words ends ? These are not new questions, but the advances made over the last two decades in the cognitive neuroscience of music and language may provide some answers. New concepts, tools and avenues of research are also emerging from the encounter between neurobiologists, evolutionary specialists, philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, psychoacousticians, computer scientists, linguists, musicologists, performers and composers. This symposium aims to illustrate just how stimulating and fruitful this reflection is.