Music is NOT a language, amirite?

i think its language in the way that it conveys emotions that you cant really speak

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Then it's not a language. A language is a specific method of communication. Like all other forms of art, music being able to convey emotional intent doesn't mean it's a language

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Have you heard of "metaphors"?

by Jamaal84 2 days ago

How do they work in music? No, really. I know no music theory. Is there something like that?

by Rileywolff 2 days ago

If it's a metaphor it's not literally a language then is it?

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Nobody said literally

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Kindly piss off

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Music communicates a message the author wants to convey

by Anonymous 2 days ago

How do you order a sandwhich in music?

by Anonymous 2 days ago

That's an argument about the expressiveness of a language, but just because a language cannot express a specific concept, it doesn't mean it's not a language, for sure it's not natural language, but still a language nonetheless

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Answer the question, how do you order a sandwhich in music? It's not a language, it's an art form. You can't speak in music

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The answer is in my reply, but you seem unable to understand it.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Perhaps if you wrote it in musical notation

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Or perhaps you are illiterate, that seems plausible as well

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Not sure about that one

by Anonymous 1 day ago

It is kind of a language though. When I went to Mexico I could play guitar and keyboards with the locals there despite not knowing Spanish and they didn't know English. We could tell eachother our ideas and what to play just through the instruments

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Convey to a local Mexican family how to make a smash burger only using the medium of castanets and then I'll believe you that music is a language

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Can you order a sandwich in a spoken language that doesn't have the concept of a sandwich? You can't order one in Latin, they didn't exist when the widely spoken language was a living language.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

"I would like a dish that is made by placing this thin slice of meat between two slices of bread"

by Anonymous 1 day ago

What a dumb question

by Anonymous 1 day ago

One that not one of you has been able to answer

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Like this

by GrouchyCat 1 day ago

If you measure a fish's worth by its ability to climb a tree...

by Deep_Ease9490 1 day ago

That's English, not music

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Communication goes further than language. Or are you claiming that, for example, a pat on the shoulder can't communicate the message of feelings like sympathy? There's more to communication than words.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

"method of communication" - Music communicates emotion, ergo its a method of communication.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Conveying emotions doesn't make it a method of communication. You can't order a sandwhich with a flute solo

by Anonymous 1 day ago

A menu could easily be made where specific sandwiches and then ingredients were represented by a note or a series of notes.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Math is a language but you can't use it to order a sandwich. Sandskrit is a language but you can't use it to order a sandwich. Ancient Sumerian is a language but you can't use it to order a sandwich. Need I go on?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

You can sing a song that relays that you want a sandwich.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The lyrics of that song would be written in a different language. That would be the actual language conveying the information

by Anonymous 1 day ago

That's silly, if I make a song written in English describing how I want a sandwich then I'll have effectively communicated that I want a sandwich. You just seem to be arguing to argue.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I'm really not, I'm just agreeing with Op. if the song is written in English then you've used the English language to convey an idea, not music

by Anonymous 1 day ago

And if you add a melody and use the exact same words it's now a song convoying the exact same message.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Actually language is any method to convey something. So if music can convey emotion I would say it's a language. Effective? No. Complex? Arguable.

by Howemaryse 1 day ago

No it isn't. Art being able to convey some emotional intent doesn't doesn't make it a language. Painting is not a language

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Picture is worth a thousand words... I can describe a scene to you or show you a photo. You are saying that describe ng the scene to you is language, but showing you a picture of that scene isn't?

by Howemaryse 1 day ago

Buddy, you have gotten the answer already, you are just being pedantically combative. it CAN be argued as a language , although not an effective one and it is up to interpretation . Like many other "languages" (body language, colors and layout, graphs, etc) they are not made for speaking, but they do convey a message. And you have things coming from the opposite direction too, like how you have a message to interpret with poetry but it is often veiled in the medium too. Still people will not refer to them as actual languages probably, beyond a technicality it's just a metaphor which you so markedly ignored

by Anonymous 1 day ago

🤓

by Anonymous 1 day ago

bro do you have autism

by Plus_Proposal 1 day ago

have you heard of figurative meaning? when somebody says "music is a language" they mean it metaphorically, I get that your trying to be a smart ass. People communicate non literally a lot of the time

by Plus_Proposal 1 day ago

By that logic the Aztecs had no language when the Spanish arrived since you couldn't order a sandwich in it.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Oh yeah well I can't talk to you with music notes so it's not a language take that /s

by weissnatisac 1 day ago

Hieroglyphics: 👁️👄👁️

by Queasy-Class2341 1 day ago

This is it. Indeed, education has failed some people.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Even literally, try to get a layman to read a sheet of music. It is a language

by Queasy-Class2341 1 day ago

That's sorta right but no. I've looked this up before and there's similarities yes but it lacks too many traits for it to be a language. Just because notes can convey some information doesn't make it a language is the basic gist. The notes refer to specific instruction on an instrument rather than their own standalone meaning. That's something the English language can do for example with B chord or whatever. But it can also describe those notes, ask questions about those notes and do a lot more things which sheet music cannot do

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I had to explain to someone on here that over exaggeration like he was 900 pounds is usually a joke and not misinformation

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Well said.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Actually language is any way to convey something. So music is a medium, sign language, speech, etc etc are all mediums to convey something

by Howemaryse 1 day ago

Sure minor that sounds "sad" and Major sound "happy", but you can't convey any message (even the simplest) with music. This right here is where you defeated yourself. If a minor chord sounds sad, then writing a song in a minor key communicates the message "I'm sad". So, it can convey a simple message. And that's not all it can do. "Minor = sad" is barely scratching the surface of musical meaning. Music can create and resolve tension, it can communicate competition as well as victory or defeat. Anger, authority, transformation, discovery, etc. All these ideas and more can be communicated through music. Also, maybe this is a blind spot for you, but birds use music to communicate all the time. They aren't just singing for fun. It is their language.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

As an example, watch movies like Jaws, or Gladiator, or Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars, or Dune without its musical score and tell me there isn't something missing. Language is a system of communication - including, but not limited to words. Music communicates so much through sound alone.

by mcclurepearlie 1 day ago

The most obvious one would be horror film, try that without music, some even becomes funny

by Anonymous 1 day ago

100%

by mcclurepearlie 1 day ago

Op doesn't know how to read music.

by Artistic_Bonus6167 1 day ago

OP also doesn't know how to listen to music.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

OP cannot even count to 4.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Sheet music is literally language

by Elisabethromagu 1 day ago

Music is math and physics. Math is a language, physics makes spoken words and music audible.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Some of y'all are being super, hyperliteral. When someone says something like, "music is a universal language," they're not saying that it has the ability to convey precise meaning in the way that a written or spoken language does. I don't understand the lyrics to 99 Luftballons. But I do understand it's a giddy, silly song that makes me nostalgic for a time I didn't even experience.

by Cheap-Childhood 1 day ago

Its like a language, its not a language literally which you seem to have taken that as

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Do people literally mean that it's a language when they say that? I think they're just speaking figuratively. It means that music is a symbolic system, like spoken/written/gestural language.

by beryl83 1 day ago

Bro just ain't fluent

by Anonymous 1 day ago

It uses symbols and a set of rules to convey meaning or evoke emotion. The language is not literal, as in "Beethovens Fifth is literally telling me to quit my job and go travel the world." But it could be interpreted as some people in a unique mood as the inspiration behind why they suddenly realized they should quit their job and travel. There's structure, like introduction and developing "action" and a conclusion. This is like music's "grammar" or "syntax." It's not a verbal language which can tell you things like "Bob went to the store on Tuesday." It's a "language" in that it can convey emotion and feeling without using actual, verbal language. A simple example is how songs written in major vs minor keys can sound "happy" vs "sad." There's some magical quality to music that can convey these messages across culture and time and different spoken languages, and that is a language in my opinion. Just not a very "precise" one like English, Spanish, Japanese, etc.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

If we're being really technical, there are some things that differentiate language from other symbolic systems. Recursion, or the ability to embed semantically-complete clauses within other clauses, for example, or displacement (the ability to refer to events that are separate from the speaker in place and in time). So sure, figuratively it's a language but if we're talking semantics then it's something else.

by beryl83 1 day ago

True! Crazy thing about language is how we can deliberate the definition of what it even is basically forever lmao

by beryl83 1 day ago

The emotion "sad" is an example of a simple message that CAN be conveyed through music. You gave us proof that debunks your claim right before you made your claim lol. I do agree it's not language, but the idea that it "can't convey any message" is just blatantly false, as evidenced by it being able to convey emotions. Music can also contain actual verbal language within it, so anything language can convey can also be conveyed through music. But music without language still can convey messages

by lavonne49 1 day ago

It gets down to the definition of "language". In the case of music, it's a form of communication. Something to convey that isn't necessarily literal. It can be a mood, or a feeling.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I mean, I can noodle for 20 minutes on a major scale, you won't be able to understand any of it - except it's a major scale. Just like a monkey noodling on a keyboard for 20 minutes doesn't produce a novel. The ability to lay meaning into music is similar to the ability to lay meaning into words. The difference is that the basis for spoken language is learned passively, and almost anyone can recognize some form of meaning from it. Musical language mostly has to be studied. Exept for a handful prodigies, people don't just start understanding what's meant when listening to music.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Dude. I have a musicolgy degree and been playing music for 30+ years. Analyzing pieces is basically the only thing I've done for several years. So "understanding what's meant" well. In Mozart's case, nothing.

by Dry-Eagle-5228 1 day ago

I think some people just love correcting others so much that they fall for their own bad faith arguments.

by DeliciousTrash9315 1 day ago

It's not supposed to be a direct "language", the beauty with art is that everyone can experience something different.

by Electronic_Field5304 1 day ago

Yes. And I'm not saying you aren't supposed to feel anything. But if everyone can experience something different, is it still a language ?

by Dry-Eagle-5228 1 day ago

Exactly. I was going to say the same thing. I'm confused why so many are talking about "feelings" and the metaphoric world or what not. Put simply, written music IS a language. It's literal symbols that mean exact things. That's exactly what a written language is. Written symbols (letters/numbers) that mean specific things...

by babylangworth 1 day ago

I'm not sure writing it (which borders on "drawing it") makes it a language, though.

by Dry-Eagle-5228 1 day ago

I did mushrooms with my best friend somewhat recently. He doesn't really listen to music like I do, so I put on some stuff to break his brain a little. And we ended up on Pink Floyd. He's never really sat down and listened to them. Heard a few of their most popular songs on the radio of course, but never really just listened to them. After a particular instrumental bit, he says to me "I don't know what it is about this, but I just feel the weight of capitalism listening to this album." Or something like that, we were on drugs. So I pulled up the album artwork to show him the derelict factory on the cover.

by Foreign-Share 1 day ago

It conveys emotion…as most art does. You can communicate to people with and through music and it's one of the best forms of communication imo.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Language communicates ideas. Music communicates emotions. So it is a ‘language' in that regard. You can see this best in movies. When the director wants to communicate a certain feeling, the music changes even though the scene doesn't. The music can be the dialogue itself to communicate mood when there are no words being spoken by the actors. Comedians have used this effect as well (playing happy music while getting mauled by a bear, for example).

by gusikowskinoemy 1 day ago

You should listen to more instrumental music.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Isn't it the premise of Close Encounters of the Third Kind? They use music to talk to the aliens?

by gaylordsabina 1 day ago

No clue.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

People who can read music will often refer to it as or liken to another language, my band director described to me this way when I was first learning how to read music.

by Artistic_Bonus6167 1 day ago

"Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" sort of thing...

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Shaka, when the falls fell

by barrett60 1 day ago

Art being able to convey emotional intent doesn't make it a language. Painting is not a language, it's an art form

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Painting is considered a visual language, especially in realist or figurative painting where you are representing something three dimensional on a two dimensional surface. It needs to be interpreted and communicated using some form of 'language' . As others have said it may not be technically correct to call it a language but it is a method of communication so metapho ically, it is.

by Easy-Fruit-4208 1 day ago

Right, so it isn't literally a language. You can't order say metaphorically it is, but it actually isn't

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Linguistics is an art too. It's why writers like Shakespeare, Austen, and Tolstoy are lauded for their prose. To use a tool like language so masterfully they're able to make you feel such strong emotions is an impressive feat most people will never achieve. Language is the writers version of paint. Paper is their canvas. To say that painting is an art form and in the same breath not a language is doing an incredible disservice to the arts.

by SuspiciousScholar 1 day ago

Lol, BRO NEVER HEARD DIALUP! Or morse code, or code. Heck, language is music

by deon19 1 day ago

Now Morse code is music. What's your favorite album ?

by Dry-Eagle-5228 1 day ago

Aren't "sad" and "happy" simple messages that you agree can be conveyed by music?

by Secure-Engine-4862 1 day ago

Can colors make you sad or happy? Or colors a language? Can weather make you sad or happy? Is weather a language?

by West_Pay3998 1 day ago

Colors used intentionally by a human is called art, and yeah it can convey stuff. That's the point of it. Weather is not trying to convey anything, it's weather.

by Secure-Engine-4862 1 day ago

Neither are something that can be pursued as a creative endeavor under a human's control We already know and see all of the 16.2 million colors that a human can possibly see. It is not possible to extend past it. Weather is not something humans control or convey.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

A color by itself is not a language just like a single sound is not a language. But when you put certain colors together with intention, you can convey meaning, in the same way that when you put certain sounds together with intention, you create a word. So, no colors alone are not language, but yes, they are part of visual communication and there are many visual languages. Unless you have invented a weather machine, you cannot use weather with intention.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Can colors make you sad or happy? No. Can weather make you sad or happy? Is weather man-made?

by cronincolumbus 1 day ago

Color psychology has pretty well proven that yes, colors evoke emotions. It's a combination of cultural importance of colors, personal associations with color, and the automatic responses specific colors cause in our brains. There's an entire art movement based on this, Fauvism. It utilizes the language of color (yes, that's the official term, it refers to how specific colors are used together to evoke specific emotions and how specific color combos have specific associations) to convey emotions and ideas rather than figures and images.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

here is a story told via music

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Music is functionally identical to a language. Any distinction is semantic at best. It just communicates in a way that people have to actively study, as opposed to pick up passively. If you spend any amount of time playing an instrument, you'll find your "voice" on it. If you spend a lot of time learning songs of a particular genre, you'll learn its "grammar". If you learn a load of licks / riffs from a genre you'll learn its "vocabulary". 2 people can be good at guitar and not be able to play together if they're brought up in different styles, just like how 2 award winning novelists can be incapable of communicating with eachother if they don't speak the same language. Do you think a language is just words ? What about body language ? Tone of voice ? The language of cinema ? Do you think maths doesn't qualify as a langage either ? What would you even accept as the "meaning" of the Turkish March or the Tocatta and Fugue ? Do you think each note is supposed to correspond to a word or something ?

by Anonymous 23 hours ago

You can decipher body language, tone of voice or "language of cinema" (although that one is probably cultural.) Now, if I play randomly on a C Major scale, you'll count that as music, you'll know it's a Major scale, maybe a C major scale if you have good ears and training. But the meaning ? Heh. It's not about what I would accept as a meaning for those two pieces. The thing is: Mozart and Bach didn't intend on conveying anything with those and, frankly I'm not sure what people would pick up from them. It's music. It's great. It doesn't need to be a language.

by Dry-Eagle-5228 23 hours ago

Music theory is absolutely a language. Try learning it & report back to us lol

by barrett60 23 hours ago

So you think artists are just winging it every time and never write their songs down? Tell me in English without sheet music how can I play Mozart?

by Anonymous 22 hours ago

Yeah there's not enough letters. You can spell a few things like BAD, CAB, BEEF, but it's really difficult to make full sentences

by Anonymous 22 hours ago

Can music tell a story?

by Anonymous 22 hours ago

When people say this, they typically don't mean it in the literal sense. There are countless parallels that become more apparent the more you learn about music, though. In other words, IYKYK.

by DeliciousTrash9315 21 hours ago

But wouldn't it still be a language because it's a written instruction for how to play the music?

by Anonymous 21 hours ago

Repeating something false isn't an opinion

by Jerel07 20 hours ago

Music is a language the same way math is a language. Just because they do not explicitly convey a message, they do convey information of some sort. Musical scores in movies are a great example of music encouraging certain emotional responses from the audience. Also, Mathematical equations can explain natural phenomena. And to break it down to its core elements: Spoken language is a culmination of sounds in a specific order to convey a message. Music is a culmination of sounds to invoke an emotion, or convey an emotional message. Math is a culmination of variables/ numbers/ operations to describe a phenomenon

by SuspiciousScholar 20 hours ago

Sure minor that sounds "sad" and Major sound "happy", but you can't convey any message (even the simplest) with music. What are the odds of you understanding anything im saying in my native tongue? I dont understand people who speak afrikaans, that doesnt mean its not a language. I dare you to tell me what Mozart's "Turkish March" or Bach's "Tocatta and fugue in d minor" mean.. They didnt write it as a message, its like asking what waithwiathiuawth means. Its pointless to give it a specific meaning, but the emotions they evoke? Now thats worth talking about.

by Stammbethany 20 hours ago

You complete misunderstood this. Music is a language to directly convey emotion without anything in between. You play a sad song and the listener instantly feels sadness etc.

by Anonymous 20 hours ago

This is actually just wrong

by NoCode 19 hours ago

Sure minor that sounds "sad" and Major sound "happy", but you can't convey any message (even the simplest) with music. I feel like you kind of contradict yourself here. Happy or Sad is a very simple message that you just stated that music can convey. For example if you have a video of a person running through a field in the distance. If you play happy music, they are just having a good time exploring nature. If you play scary music it now implies they are in danger, running from something. If you play a quick up beat music it means they are running because they are late, maybe they need to catch a train or something?

by thompsoncarlie 19 hours ago

Possibly. But that's cultural. I'm not sure those guys would get it despite having music (and a very structured one to boot)

by Dry-Eagle-5228 19 hours ago

Idk I can spell Bad bed bag a cab gab beg bead cede Using staffs and dots

by Seamus33 18 hours ago

I don't necessarily disagree with your point, but I think the sentiment is an idea that trained musicians claim with legitimate parallels, coopted by the general public. Its a point teenagers who like music use as like a quotation, without really understanding what that means. I'm a trained classical musician, and many of my friends and colleagues are trained musicians of different genres. The parallels we draw with language are usually more tangible in nature. How music theory are symbols that instruct us how to make sounds in order to form recognizable structures like phrases, melodies, chords, etc. A lot of traditional musicians are fluent or have working knowledge of multiple languages cause at least on first blush the function of studying and reciting music feels similar to the practice of reading, writing, and speaking in a different language. Im not sure if scientifically they actually activate similar parts of the brain or if they are just similar in pedagogy, making the act of learning the two familiar. All this to say the notion of music being a language might more literal than you think.

by Anonymous 18 hours ago

It's akin to body language or simbols. It conveys meaning without using actual words. It's also very vague on its own, so context matters.

by Pretend-Lobster 18 hours ago

Yes. But Mozart didn't mean to convey any message in this tune other than "hey orient is fashionnable these days, here's a piece I wrote" True story.

by Dry-Eagle-5228 17 hours ago

Figuratively, it certainly is a language. When musicians improvise together, it feels like a conversation. Some chords are associated to more positive things, others more negative. While it doesn't always, it can tell a story with no words. Life is going to seem pretty rigid to you if you assume every sentence should be taken to the first degree. Figuratively, music is a language. Literally, it isn't. That simple.

by brandostark 17 hours ago

Music is a language it has a written form and its performed/ spoken form. Just because you can't understand it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

by Anonymous 17 hours ago

There's no way you're a musician

by Queasy-Class2341 17 hours ago

Not an opinion, just wrong. Music communicates ideas and emotion. Interpretation can be different for different people, which spoken and written language definitely helps with conveying a single straightforward meaning, but if all language wasn't up for interpretation, we wouldn't still be arguing about the meaning of the US constitution 300 years later. Also, what is spoken language but a series of notes, at differing pitches and timbres, at a certain tempo? One could say language is music.

by No_Schedule9382 16 hours ago

Music is not a true language because it lacks a standardized, universal grammar and a codified system of symbols with fixed meanings, though it shares similarities with language as a form of communication that uses organized sound to express emotions and ideas. While music has a structure or syntax, these rules vary significantly across cultures, preventing it from functioning as a universal language to convey specific, propositional messages.

by Anonymous 16 hours ago

One of the biggest point of music is it's ability to communicate messages (feelings, emotions, experiences) across cultures.

by Top_Butterscotch_436 16 hours ago

I never heard anyone saying this

by Anonymous 15 hours ago