Meaning in music and language: Three key differences: Comment on “Towards a neural basis of processing musical semantics” by Stefan Koelsch

Abstract

Koelsch [4] takes a broad view of semantics (unlike, e.g., [3]), and presents a variety of evidence suggesting that,like language, instrumental music can communicate not only emotional or affective meaning, but also iconic, indexi-cal, and symbolic meaning. He concludes that the study of musical semantics and its relation to linguistic semanticscan advance our understanding of the neural representation of semantics in general. Koelsch’s paper demonstratesthat evidence from neuroscience can inform old debates about musical semantics, and we agree with his point thatlinguistic and musical meaning may have more in common than has been generally appreciated. However, it is alsoimportant to recognize salient differences between linguistic and musical meaning. We point to three key features oflinguistic semantics that are distinct from musical semantics: specificity, compositionality, and communication.As discussed by Koelsch [4], a growing body of evidence suggests that music, like language, can activate aspects ofextramusical meaning, as revealed by elevated N400 responses to semantic incongruity. However, the meaning evokedby music is far less