Do musicians have an “ear” for language learning? Can you learn a second language by listening to music? Why do some languages seem to sound so “musical”? In our latest episode, Kaitlyn Tagarelli (Linguist, PhD) examines the connection between music and language, including how music helps language learning.
If you want to learn more about the scientific research consulted for this episode, and how Mango guides learners, take a look at our blog post on this topic: https://blog.mangolanguages.com/music-and-language-learning-a-harmonious-duo
Here’s some other Mango content that can help you make the most of your language learning adventure:
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Wondering what languages were used in today’s video/episode?
English | Recording language
Dari | سَلام (salaam) and خُداحافِظ (khuda haafez) mean “Hello” and “Goodbye” in Dari , one of two of Afghanistan’s official languages. Fun fact: Dari is in the same language family as English, German, and Spanish (the Indo-European family)!
Italian | Buongiorno and Arrivederci mean “Hello” and “Goodbye” in Italian, an Indo-European language spoken in Italy. Fun fact: There are over 30 different regional varieties spoken across Italy!
Interested in learning Dari, Italian, or one of the other 70+ languages that the Mango app offers? Click here to start learning! https://mangolanguages.com/app
Kaitlyn Tagarelli (Ph.D., Georgetown University) is a linguist and the Head of Research at Mango Languages. She holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University, specializing in how the mind and brain learn languages. Aside from geeking out about all things neuroscience and linguistics, she loves hanging out with her family at their Connecticut home, trying to convince them to speak French with her.
George Smith (Ph.D., University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa) is a Linguistics Content Writer at Mango Languages. He holds a Ph.D. in Second Language Studies from the University of Hawai‛i at Mānoa, and conducts research on second language listening, speaking, and vocabulary learning. He is a lifelong teacher and learner who enjoys gabbing about language with his family and friends.
Kaitlyn Tagarelli, PhD: " (salaam)! Buongiorno (bwonJORno)! Welcome back to Adventures in Language! I’m your guide, Kaitlyn. In this episode of the Science Behind Language Learning, we’re talking about the relationship between music and language! Music and language are both complex, creative, and uniquely human. We’re going to talk about how much they have in common and how music may affect language learning. Are you ready? Let’s get started!
What do music and language have in common?
In essence, language is a system of communication and music is a form of artistic expression. On the surface, they may seem pretty different, but there are good reasons to think that music and language would have a special relationship.
There are 3 major similarities between music and language. Let’s break them down:
- Number 1: Music and language are both made up of sounds. Maybe obvious, sure — but stay with me. Music can be produced using a wide variety of instruments, including the vocal tract, which is the instrument of choice for language. [Now a quick side note: Because sound is such a crucial link here, we are focusing in this episode on the relationship between music and spoken languages. But we did link some really cool resources for you on music and sign language, so be sure to check those out if you’re interested.] Now, it’s not just simply that music and language are both made up of sounds. In fact, the sounds that make up music and language are based on many of the same acoustic features, such as frequency, duration, intensity, and timbre. In music, frequency is what gives each note on a scale its unique sound and tells you how high or low the notes are. This information helps the listener understand the melody and meaning of a piece. In language, frequency determines which consonants (e.g., /d/, /t/) and vowels (e.g., /eɪ/, /æ/) we hear. Frequency is also related to intonation, or pitch, which is important for expressing emotion, emphasis, or even the meaning of words in tonal languages like Mandarin.Duration? That’s how long a sound lasts. Musical notes vary in duration — think of the opening sequence of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which has sets of three short notes followed by a long one (da da da daaaaaaa). In language, different speech sounds have different durations. For example, low vowels, like “ah” /ɑ/ are generally longer than high vowels like “ee” /i/, and fricatives like “ss” /s/ are longer than stop consonants like “t” /t/. In some languages, the duration of a consonant or vowel can change the meaning of the word. For example, in Japanese, きて (kite) means “to come” and きって (kitte) means “postage stamp.”Intensity refers to loudness, or volume, which plays an important role in how both music and language are perceived by the listener. And finally, timbre is the quality of sound that helps us identify which instruments we are hearing in an orchestra or tell different speakers apart in language.
- Number 2: Music and language are both hierarchically structured systems arranged in time. Just as language is not a haphazard combination of sounds and words, music is not a random assortment of notes and chords. There are rules and principles that determine how the elements of music and language can be combined and arranged. (If you want to learn more about how this works in language, check out our episode on How Sentences Work). These sets of rules are known as grammar in language and harmonic structure in music. And when the rules are broken, a little lightbulb goes off in our brains! Well, not exactly… But this brings us to the 3rd major similarity between language and music
- Number 3: Music and language rely on similar networks in the brain. Ok, so this is so cool (says this neurolinguist). Because actually, we know that, at least to some extent, music and language are stored separately in the brain. How do we know this? Well, people can suffer brain damage — like from a stroke — and lose language abilities but still retain musical skills, or vice versa. One famous example of this is the Russian composer, Vissarion Shebalin, who had severe language impairments following multiple strokes but retained his musical talent and went on to publish several impressive musical compositions.
However, modern brain imaging techniques have shown us that in spite of these differences, there is also a lot of overlap in how and where music and language are processed in the brain. Studies have shown that our brains process the structure of music and language in very similar, if not identical, ways (Patel, 2003). Also, changes in pitch in both music and language elicit similar neural responses (Besson 24, 32).
Now check this out. Our brains also seem to treat notes and chords like the “vocabulary” of music. There is a known neural response to unexpected words in sentences, like when you hear I’m happiest when I’m taking long walks on the telescope. The same or very similar neural response is observed when people hear an unexpected note in a melody.
Are musicians better at language learning?
Ok, so given the similarities between music and language, it seems likely that talented musicians should be good at learning new languages. And there is quite a bit of research to support this theory!
Musicians are really good at detecting subtle differences in pitch not only in music, but also in their native language and in languages that they are not familiar with. Pitch detection is a pretty important skill for learning tone languages, like Mandarin Chinese, Thai, or Swahili. Why? Well, in tone languages, the meaning of a word can change depending on its pitch, or tone. For example, in Mandarin, the word “mā” means “mom”. Easy enough so far, right? But changing the tone of the word can change its meaning to something completely different. Being able to tell these tones apart comes in handy when trying to learn them, and experienced musicians are better at this. Interestingly, the facilitative effect between musical ability and pitch seems to go both ways — speakers of tone languages are more likely to have perfect pitch than speakers of non-tonal languages.
Now, if you’ve been following this series, you already know sound discrimination ability is a key part of language aptitude, which itself can predict how successful you are at language learning. Beyond pitch, musicians are usually (though not always) better at distinguishing between other kinds of sounds based on information about frequency, duration, and intensity. For example, musicians are better at distinguishing between short and long versions of consonants, which is often a challenge for language learners.
Interestingly, it isn’t just seasoned musicians who have a leg up in language learning. Some studies have shown that brief amounts of musical training – as little as 6 months – can help children become better at identifying the boundaries between words and at processing pitch in an unfamiliar language. And even when non-musicians can tell sounds apart as accurately as musicians, musicians show stronger brain responses to sound differences. This suggests that musical experience helps people perceive differences in language, even if they aren’t explicitly aware of them. This also supports the idea that musical expertise leads to changes in areas of the brain that are important for language learning and processing.
Now, most studies have looked at musical expertise or experience. But what if you just happen to have an aptitude for music? It’s hard to tease these apart because it’s likely that people with high musical ability are drawn to become musicians. But studies show that both children and adults with high musical aptitude have better pronunciation in their second language than those with low musical aptitude.(26, 27)
Can music help you learn a language?
So being musically inclined or having musical experience can set us up to be good language learners. But there’s another important connection between music and language. We can actually learn language through music.
Actually, we can learn a lot of things through music. Shout out to any preschool and elementary school teachers watching and saying, “Tell us something we don’t know!” Nursery rhymes and other short, repetitive songs are ubiquitous in early childhood education, and are key for building literacy and knowledge in young children, but songs can also be used to teach other subjects like history, science, and even math!
Research has shown that repetitive songs like, “The Wheels on the Bus”, accompanied by gestures and actions, can help young second language learners pick up on new vocabulary. Even adults benefit from catchy refrains. In one study, adult learners who listened to and analyzed classic rock songs as a part of their ESL classes improved their ability to recognize and use words contained in the lyrics. Songs have also been shown to promote the acquisition of grammatical patterns and phrases when combined with activities that draw students’ attention to what they are learning.
There is one caveat to these research findings: songs don’t appear to be any better for learning vocabulary or grammar than traditional teaching activities are. And learning through songs alone is pretty slow-going. However, songs are particularly effective at boosting learners’ enjoyment of language classes, which could ultimately lead to learning by increasing motivation.
Well, there you have it!
Alright my friends, that brings us to the end of our episode. Now let’s take a minute to recap what we’ve learned.
- Music and language are different systems with a lot of similarities. In particular, they are both made up of sounds with similar acoustic features, they are both highly structured, and they rely on a lot of overlapping processes in the brain.
- If you are an accomplished musician, there’s a good chance that language learning will come easy to you, especially when it comes to learning the sounds of a new language.
- Music is also a great tool for language learning! So go make some playlists in the language you’re learning!
Well, that’s the end of the episode and the end of Season 1 of the Science Behind Language Learning series! If you haven’t caught our previous episodes in this series, go check them out! We have 14 episodes on topics like the differences between first and second languages, age effects in language learning, and language learning motivation. If you liked this episode, let us know by subscribing, liking, and reviewing the show! For more fun content, you can also follow us on your favorite social media platform @mangolanguages. Thanks for listening and have fun on your language learning adventures!. .خُداحافِظ (khuda haafez)! Arrivederci (areeveDERchee)!
Be sure to check out the description for this episode for some free materials on music and language, including a worksheet with tips for learning with songs. Thanks for listening!"