Link to the University of Pittsburgh Homepage
Link to the University Library System Homepage Link to the Contact Us Form

Music and Lyrics Interactions and their Influence on Recognition of Sung Words: An Investigation of Word Frequency, Rhyme, Metric Stress, Vocal Timbre, Melisma, and Repetition Priming

Johnson, Randolph B and Huron, David and Collister, Lauren (2013) Music and Lyrics Interactions and their Influence on Recognition of Sung Words: An Investigation of Word Frequency, Rhyme, Metric Stress, Vocal Timbre, Melisma, and Repetition Priming. Empirical Musicology Review, 9 (1). 2 - 20.

[img]
Preview
PDF
Published Version
Available under License : See the attached license file.

Download (702kB) | Preview
[img] Plain Text (licence)
Available under License : See the attached license file.

Download (1kB)

Abstract

<jats:p>This study investigated several factors presumed to influence the intelligibility of song lyrics. Twenty-seven participants listened to recordings of musical passages sung in English; each passage consisted of a brief musical phrase sung by a solo voice. Six vocalists produced the corpus of sung phrases. Eight hypotheses derived from common phonological and prosodic principles were tested. Intelligibility of lyrics was degraded: (i) when archaic language was used; (ii) when words were set in melismatic rather than syllabic contexts; (iii) when the musical rhythm did not match the prosodic speech rhythm; and (iv) when successive target words rhymed. Intelligibility of lyrics was facilitated: (i) when words contained diphthongs rather than monophthongs; (ii) when a word from an immediately previous passage reappeared; (iii) when a syllabic setting of a word was preceded by a melismatic setting of the same word. No difference in word intelligibility was observed between music theater singers and opera singers.</jats:p>


Share

Citation/Export:
Social Networking:
Share |

Details

Item Type: Article
Status: Published
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Johnson, Randolph B
Huron, David
Collister, Laurencollister@pitt.eduLBC80000-0001-5767-8486
Date: 24 October 2013
Date Type: Publication
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Journal or Publication Title: Empirical Musicology Review
Volume: 9
Number: 1
Publisher: The Ohio State University Libraries
Page Range: 2 - 20
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.18061/emr.v9i1.3729
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Linguistics
Refereed: Yes
Date Deposited: 22 May 2014 20:51
Last Modified: 05 Sep 2024 15:55
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21655

Metrics

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Altmetric.com


Actions (login required)

View Item View Item