Recently I've been reading up on music and language research on the anthropological side, which I was not very familiar before. But as I read them, I felt that I was more familiar with these than I assumed--training as I went through my ethnomusicology program. After all, ethnomusicology, linguistic anthropology, and other domains of social sciences/humanities (such as semiotics, philosophy) all contribute to the humanistic side of discussion about music and language. There has been a "vocal anthropology" thread going on in anthro depts too. I got familiar with works of Aaron Fox, Steven Feld, and some older authors that I used to read, such as Charles Seeger, Jean-Jacque Nattiez, George List, Alan Lomax, etc. Apparently there has been a lot going on in the field in the past 20 years too.
The Fox&Feld 1994 review article, it seems to me, is very comprehensive and offers an excellent overview of all the issues that have been going on in music and language, including different disciplines and different approaches such as the cognitive modelling (although things got a little different after Ani Patel's boom of the neuroscience of music and language processing). Paja Faudree's new review (upcoming) for 1994-2011 is somewhat tuned toward a more specialized module of approach. Although I am still the most intrigued by the cognitive side of m/l research, especially those with brain imaging, I still see the merits on different perspectives. I think one of the essential differences, as I articulated in the article Between Natural Sciences and Social Sciences/Humanities, is that while the cognitive methodology offers an objective and more accurate picture of the physical basis of the brain processing of m/l, it is also hard to debate the stance taken by the humanistic side: viewing music or language as an abstract and independent logic form, detached from its vibrant context of change, dynamics, and usage, and the vastly rich and diverse responses, thoughts, and feelings that people experience, kind of only tells one side of the story. Therefore we have the value of the complements by looking both ways.
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