Implicit polyphony: A framework for understanding cultural complexity

Abstract

Musical terms like ‘polyphony’ are often applied in psychology and other disciplines in a more or less metaphorical way. However, this article investigates how polyphony can be applied in a non-metaphorical manner, i.e. in the same way, as it is understood in musicology. The fundamental hypothesis is that music represents a basic capacity of the human mind, and that this has impact on other human capacities, like language. If so, this should be traceable in different ways in different cultures. To investigate this, ‘implicit polyphony’ is launched as a term that refers to music, which is melodic, but at the same time reveals a more or less hidden polyphonic structure. This musical phenomenon is demonstrated by examples from Bach and Ravel. It is demonstrated that polyphony is at the core of music, not only in Western classical music, but also African and other ethnical music. Implicit polyphony defined as two voices condensed into one is also found in Norwegian Sámi music. The latter leads to a conclusion, which says that continuity in music is related to verticality. Investigations in linguistics show that the oral use of language is highly comparable with implicit polyphony in music. The same is modernistic literature where the aim has been to turn language into music, as in parts of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses. By bringing in examples of lexical and conceptual blending, the final conclusion is that ‘implicit polyphony’ may serve as a tool for understanding the complexity in human thinking and culture.