Music, Meanings, and the Brain #1

Language

DYNAMIC, LEARNED, HIERARCHICAL, and RELATIVELY AUTONOMOUS system of MEANING-GENERATING paradigmatic and syntagmatic signs that SIGNIFY and COMMUNICATE to self and others via SPEECH COMMUNITIES and COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE throughout the LIFE CYCLE

Culture

Shared understandings of a collective and the products of these understandings

Speech communities

Dell Hymes definition

Shared rules and behaviors for speech/language

Shared understandings learned face-to-face (required)

Everyone is always a member of multiple & constantly changing speech communities

Are heterogeneous/diverse

How you operate in a language

Example: The sharing of musical texts makes the NC orchestra a community of practice, but the sharing of speech patterns (slang) makes the NC orchestra their own speech community

Communities of practice

Brought together by mutual endeavor (knowledge-based), not always language-related

Shared repertoire of resources

Always include institutions (speech communities do not) → could be religious

Mutual accountability/responsibility

Learning face-to-face is sometimes necessary, but not always required

Ex: people in neuroscience MRI studies don't have to communicate with others around the world, but they are all in the same studies and tied to an institution

Example: The sharing of musical texts makes the NC orchestra a community of practice, but the sharing of speech patterns (slang) makes the NC orchestra their own speech community

Paradigmatic and syntagmatic

Syntagmatic means how words sit next to each other in a line to make a sentence. Paradigmatic means a list of replacement words that can swap into that same spot.